


Stormy Nights

by MapsioMorrigan



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuban Lance (Voltron), F/M, Female Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance x Pidge - Freeform, Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt Angst, Slow Build, Slow Burn, flirtyrobot, plance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-06-09 18:49:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15273993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MapsioMorrigan/pseuds/MapsioMorrigan
Summary: Nightmares and intense storms have left Pidge with little sleep. Comfort from a close friend helps ease some of her anxieties.This is my first Voltron fic! Please enjoy!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I resonate a lot with Lance and Pidge... Like, a LOT. I can't exactly place why, but I do!  
> I hope you all enjoy reading this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it! I really feel like I might add more chapters in the time to come.

                It was a dark night in the Castle of Lions, the castle having landed down on the planet of Quaid in hopes of replenishing some supplies. The supply run was a success, however the limited light from the moon and the highly intense downpour of rain in tandem with the incredibly loud claps of thunder and high velocity winds, Princess Allura decided it be best to wait out the storms. However, forgetting that night lasts nearly four times longer than what they were used to, they seemed to be stuck. The storms had lasted nearly five quintaints already.

                Everyone in the castle was fast asleep. But with a particularly loud clap of thunder that very faintly shook the castle, the green paladin was startled awake. Pidge's breathing was heavy, frantically feeling around for her bedside light. Drenched in more sweat than usual, she closed her eyes, burying her face into her hands and taking deep, slow breaths to calm herself down. Her face was wet, not from the sweat but from tears. Had she been crying in her sleep again? It must have been the dream again. Having it in her head once more, Pidge sobbed, wiping her eyes and face using the hem of her small black sleep shirt. She breathed steady again, curling her fingers into the soft cotton of her sleep shorts and closing her eyes, feeling the light air from her bedside fan. The planet itself was pretty humid, not to mention Pidge tends to sweat when she sleeps, so using a fan and sleeping in what were essentially summer sleepwear seemed to help her. Just when she was seeming to calm down, another loud clap of thunder sounded with a bright flash of lightning right next to Pidge's window. With a frantic scream, Pidge fell off her bed with a loud thud, the heavy breathing beginning once again.

                Pidge let out another yell when she heard a banging coming from outside her door. What could that be?? She calmed down a little bit when she heard a familiar voice.

                "Pidge?" she heard Lance's voice from beyond her door. "Pidge, are you okay?"

                Pidge got up from the floor, almost running towards her door, pushing the button and letting the door open with a whoosh, Lance suddenly in front of her. "Lance!" she said, her voice trembling. Pidge was small, Lance knew that. He'd never seen her look as small as she was at that moment. She was standing a little hunched over, her arms hugging her shoulders. He rarely saw her in her sleep clothes. He could see hundreds of her little freckles peeking out on her arms and legs, inwardly smirking at the fact that they're not just on her face. Those thoughts were shut down however when he looked into her hazel eyes. Her eyebrows were heavily knitted, and he noticed what looked like fresh tear trails on her cheeks. Had she been crying?

                "Pidge, are you okay?" the Cuban boy asked again, stepping forward into her room, the door whooshing shut behind him. Pidge took a step back from him. Ever the cautious one, Pidge. "I heard you scream, more than once. Are you okay, what happened?"

                Pidge didn't want to worry him, plus it was embarrassing having woke someone up like that. "I'm f-fine.. I just, uh.. I fell out of bed, that's all," Pidge lied. Lance squeezed his lips together. He could tell when Pidge was lying . Despite having disguised herself as a boy for nearly a year, Pidge had a couple of distinct signs at when she was lying. Like right at that moment, she refused to look at him. Second, she was rubbing the fabric of her sleep shirt between her fingers. Lanced sighed.

                "Pidge, why don't you just tell me? I've known you long enough to tell when you're lying to me."

                Pidge looked up at him, his blue eyes not leaving her, making her feel extremely uncomfortable. She let out a shaky breath. "Look, I told you, I'm-" Suddenly another loud clap of thunder roared, a yelp escaping Pidge's throat and involuntarily throwing herself at Lance. Her fingers squeezed the fabric of his soft sleep shirt, her face buried in his chest and her eyes squeezed shut. Feeling her heavy breathing and shaking body, Lance looked down at this small, whimpering girl and realized something.

                "Pidge..." he said, grasping her small shoulders in his large hands. "Are you... afraid of thunder?"

                Pidge's eyes split open. Great, now he's gonna make fun of her. She peered up only to see the face of a concerned Lance looking down on her. She decided to lie again.

                "What? No, of-of course I'm not-" with yet another clap of thunder, Pidge's face was once again buried in Lance's shirt, her arms tight around his torso. Lance was no longer amused. He felt this small person trembling in his arms, and he realized that Pidge was genuinely scared. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, setting his cheek atop the crown of her head and giving her a tight squeeze. Lance had a big, tight-knit family. He knew exactly how effective hugs could be.

                Flutters flew throughout Pidge's stomach. The feeling of being squeezed by somebody so warm and nice... she instantly started to calm down. Her eyebrows knitted together. It wasn't just the storm that was bothering her. The horribly vivid dream she had, of finally finding her brother and her father, only to be cut down by Zarkon himself kept flashing before her closed eyes. She let out a shaky breath and pushed away from Lance's warm embrace. She looked up at him sheepishly, embarrassed at her frightened display.

                "Um..." she fiddled with her hands, trying to find the words for what Lance did. She already felt bad enough that she actually woke someone up with her screams. "Thank you, Lance... I, um.."

                "Heh, it's no problem, Pidge," Lance said sincerely. "You're a member of my team, but... more than that, you're a dear friend of mine. I couldn't sleep soundly knowing that you couldn't."

                Pidge smiled. She was happy to hear that Lance thought so fondly of her. He may be a flirty person, but he's more thoughtful than Pidge realized. And she didn't know why she hadn't seen it until now. Lance was incredibly selfless. He always worried about teammates, always looking out for their wellbeing. She remembered how he helped her find enough gac to buy that vintage game system, all the while he could have been hanging around that mall, flirting with alien girls. He even popped out of a coma to save them once.

                Lance half smiled as he backed up toward the door. "So, you're okay then, right?" he asked, finger gunning towards her in that Lance fashion of his. Pidge giggled, wiping her face of nearly dried tear trails.

                "I'll be fine," Pidge said, holding up an okay sign.

                With a smile and one final look back, Lance retreated out the door. Pidge sighed, still embarrassed at the whole ordeal. He helped calm her down though, at least. So much so that he made her forget... about... the storm...?

                Suddenly the loudest crack of thunder she'd heard that night sounded. Pidge let out a shriek, crouching down to the floor with her hands over her ears. Nearly breathing through her teeth, Pidge busied herself desperately trying to calm herself down, she didn't even hear the door open, suddenly feeling herself being picked up. She opened her eyes to see Lance, pushing a button next to her window, muttering 'first of all, let's fix this' under his breath before heading over to her bed. Gently setting her down on her bed, Lance carefully climbed in next to her, pulling her to his chest, his thighs colliding with her knees.

                A bewildered Pidge peered up at Lance, nearly at a loss for words. "Lance, wh-what are you-"

                "Shhh," he said softly. "Just close your eyes, and try to get some sleep."

                Pidge opened her mouth to speak, but simply nodded her head and closed her eyes. Lance was warm. Not like an uncomfortable heat but a pleasant warm... a closeness. Feeling him breath in and out was both comforting and alarming... she felt his hand move to the small of her back and she shuddered, letting out small, shaky breaths. By no means was it a bad feeling, it wasn't a bad nervousness she was feeling, but... Pidge just didn't know how to explain it.

                Thunder cracked once more, and although it was slightly muffled by the now sealed window, Pidge still let out a whimper, squeezing her eyes shut. Lance pulled her somewhat closer, her head resting against his sternum. She tried to calm her labored breathing.

                "I'm... I-I'm sorry, Lance," Pidge whispered, making sure it wasn't coming out in a sob. Curling her hands into the soft cotton of his sleep shirt, she couldn't help but think of the dream she had again. She let out a shaky sigh.

                "Is it just the thunder that's bothering you tonight, or...?" Lance asked softly. Damn, he could see right through her. Pidge sighed again.

                "I just... have been having the same dream... sometimes for several nights in a row... I finally find Matt and my father.. only for them to be immediately cut down by Zarkon himself. I see Matt's vacant... dead eyes staring back at me," Pidge breathed shakily, "and that's when I wake up."

                Lance was still throughout the story. So still Pidge thought he had fallen asleep for a moment. Suddenly Pidge felt him squeeze her into a tight hug. "I'm sorry, Pidge..." he murmured sleepily into her hair.

                "Th-thanks..." she said quietly, closing her eyes again. They both settled into a comfortable silence, Pidge's fan whirring in the background.

                "You just use a table fan?" Lance said quietly. "Why don't you use the air conditioning?"

                "Oh, um..." Pidge stammered. "I like to feel the air close to my face when I sleep... I like the sound of it, too, I guess, and..." Pidge stopped short a moment, and continued on quietly, "I... I like using things from Earth..."

                Lance faintly rubbed her shoulder. "Makes sense... I completely understand that."

                Pidge nodded, softly nudging her head against his sternum. Save for a few more cracks of thunder, Pidge fell into a steady rhythm of breathing. Hearing Lance breathe and feeling him breathe, hearing his heartbeat, feeling his hands, heavy on her shoulder, touching at the small of her back... feeling the pleasant warmth radiating off of him, the softness of his sleep shirt, everything just felt so... nice.

                Eventually Pidge's consciousness faded, paying no mind to the slightly quieter albeit crackling sky, and finally letting a deep sleep take over her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How can Pidge get through another night of horrendous storms?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ended up being much longer than I had anticipated. But that's a good thing, more to read!! Please enjoy!

                For the first time in weeks, nightmares and vacant eyes didn't haunt Pidge's dreams. She actually didn't really dream of anything, to be honest. It was a calmness. Like she was sitting by the seashore, just listening to the waves crashing against the rocks. She felt so light, like she was floating, enveloped by a warm, fuzzy feeling.

                Pidge opened her eyes. The room was dim, save for the small floor lights around the paneling of the room. One thing she quickly realized was that she was alone in her bed. She felt around in the dim dark for her glasses, looking over at the clock by her bedside. A little after 9 AM. Could she have imagined the whole thing? Or dreamed that Lance comforted her until she slept? Maybe he left right after she fell asleep.

                She lifted up and sat on the edge of her bed, just thinking. Some of her memories were pretty vivid of the encounter. She remembered waking up, she remembered Lance's incredible hug, being lifted up and held tight enough to calm her down. She couldn't have hallucinated all that, could she have?

                She stood up, stretching out her short legs. Her window cover was still closed though (which honestly was super smart of Lance to close it to muffle the thunder, why hadn't she thought of that) and she didn't remember closing it in the first place. She pushed a couple buttons to open it back up, seeing that the planet was still dark, the thunder and lightning stopped, the rain and wind still fairly steady. Why the thunder and lightning stopped when it was essentially "the daytime" Pidge didn't know, but she wasn't about to complain.

                Pidge decided to put the situation on the backburner for that moment, grabbing some clothes and heading to the bathrooms to take a shower. She just wasn't sure how she was going to get through the thunder again. If it was still dark now, that meant it was still going to be dark by nighttime. She didn't want to go through a sixth night of thunder. Standing under the cool stream of the shower was helping feel more at ease, however. There was something about cool showers that Pidge liked. By no means did she like them freezing cold, but having a bit of a sweating problem and being a little overly warm when trying to sleep at night made for a pretty pleasant shower the next day.

                Oh quiznack... she didn't sweat all over Lance in the night, did she? She still wasn't even positive if she hallucinated him being there or not but... how would they act around each other if he did? Pidge stopped herself. _Dummy, it's not like you guys did anything, he just... comforted me, that's all_.

                Pidge stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. Despite the cool shower, her hair was clinging to her neck. Pidge sighed, fishing a hairtie out of her shorts pocket and trying her best to get her short hair into a ponytail.

                She headed out the door, about to head to the kitchen for breakfast when she ran into someone. The someone she both didn't want to talk to and needed to talk to the most was standing right in front of her.

                "Hey, Pidge," Lance said, albeit a little awkwardly. She wasn't sure if she already wanted to try to talk to him about this. How embarrassing would it be to ask about last night and for her to have just dreamed it up. Pidge would be mortified. But right there Lance eased the green paladin's mind.

                "How are you feeling?" Lance asked, concern in his voice. "You were pretty shaken up last night, I thought it might be best if I just let you sleep. Are you always like that with thunder?"

                "Oh, uh," Pidge stammered. "I don't.. really like to talk about it."

                She looked up to Lance's troubled face, a pang of guilt hitting her in the chest and looking back down. _I mean, I did disturb him last night... maybe he deserves to know._

                Before she could say anything, Lance lightly tapped her on her arm, causing her to look back up. "Do you want to go eat breakfast?" Lance asked, casually thumbing behind him. Pidge was a bit caught off guard, suddenly feeling a weight be pulled off her shoulder. Just hearing Lance say that instantly put her at ease, as if he could tell talking about it just wasn't the time for her. To be honest, she was embarrassed. She was a paladin of Voltron, she'd heard noises way louder, explosions even, than thunder, she couldn't believe she was still scared of it despite all she'd been through by then but... she didn't really want to think much about it.

                Pidge smiled and nodded. "That actually sounds wonderful, thank you, Lance."

                They walked the short distance to the elevator, Lance punching the button to the floor where the dining area was. Walking into the kitchen, the two paladins noticed no Hunk in sight, which was odd, since he usually was the first person in there making breakfast. It was only a little past nine o'clock, not to mention it's been a bit of an off week for the paladins. Planet Quaid made it no easier for them to train.

                Lance pulled down two bowls and picked up a box of what was essentially chocolate flavored cereal. They weren't sure if it was actual chocolate let alone actual cereal, but it made for a nice breakfast that still went well with the milk they had, thanks to Kaltenecker.

                They sat in silence, save for the crunching of the cereal. Pidge kind of hoped Lance wouldn't bring up the sleeping situation like he didn't the thunder situation, but alas, not everything could be as easy as she hoped.

                "I'm, uh," he started out, rubbing the back of his neck as he leaned up against the counter, "I'm sorry for kind of... forcing myself into your bed last night, I..."

                Pidge set down her spoon on the table, knitting her eyebrows in worry over Lance's comment. How could _he_ be apologizing to _her_?

                "Lance..." Pidge said quietly, looking down, trying to think of the right words to say. She looked up, slight determination in her eyes. "You did nothing wrong. If anything, I should be apologizing to you for waking you up in the first place..."

                Lance squeezed his lips together, down casting his eyes for a moment. "We've been on Planet Quaid for nearly six full quintents," Lance said, pulling out a chair next to Pidge, leaning his arms on the table," and it's thundered every night we've been here, so what have you been doing at night all this time?"

                Pidge was afraid he'd ask that. She looked away, her one hand pawing at the fingers of her other hand. Lanced furrowed his brows, leaning down to try to look her in the eyes, to which she simply looked further away.

                "Pidge..." Lance said. "Have you gotten any sleep in the last couple nights?"

                Pidge sighed, defeated and too tired to try to hide it. "I mostly just try to cover my ears. My pillow helps a little, but drifting into sleep makes me relax, and then the pillow slips off my head and I wake up as soon as I hear the next crack of thunder. Using my headphones doesn't help either. I like using my fan because of the calm sound... my music only ends up distracting me and then I get zero sleep. Eventually when it starts to turn to "day", the thunder stops and I finally get maybe two or three vargas of sleep."

                She looked up to see a concerned Lance listening intently, causing her to instantly look back down, knitting her brows and pouting her lip. "Plus I feel super dumb that I didn't think to close the window cover like you did."

                Lance laughed, holding his hand to his stomach. "I can't believe I actually thought of something you didn't!"

                Pidge couldn't help but giggle. "Well, don't get used to it."

                The two contentedly chuckled. This was a pleasant moment between Pidge and Lance. She couldn't believe how comfortable she had been feeling around Lance. He definitely had a caring piece in that overzealous, outrageous heart of his.

                Just then the door whooshed open to reveal Hunk, surprised to see his two friends sitting in the kitchen already.

                "Oh hey, you guys are up already," Hunk said. "Aw, you guys ate already, I was gonna try my best to recreate waffles. We have milk and nothing else to make actual waffles, not even a waffle maker, but I feel like if I try hard enough, I might be able to make it happen, who's in?"

                "I could go for a waffle," said Lance, standing up from his seat. "Plus I think it'll be super entertaining to watch."

                "I'm pumped up," Hunk said enthusiastically. "You up for it Pidge?"

                "I'm sure it'll be cool to watch, but I'm gonna go work on some things," Pidge said as she stood up from her seat, grabbing her and Lance's bowls to put them in the dishwasher. "Save me a waffle though, if you're successful, that is."

                "Will do." With that, she started for the door.

                Looking back, she watched her friends for a moment, watching Lance hold a plant that spat powder all over his face with Hunk saying "Ooohh, that might work as flour" as Lance sputtered whatever it was out of his mouth. Pidge smiled as she looked upon her two friends, and headed down the hall to continue the restless work of finding her family.

***

                Pidge closed her laptop, sighing in defeat. She wiped her bangs from her face, setting her elbow on her knee and resting her cheek in her hand. She was out of options for the day. She'd done everything, cross referenced the footage from the Beta Traz with every piece of security they had gathered from past missions aboard Galra ships and outposts. And to make matters worse, she had nothing on her father's whereabouts. Not even a smidgeon of evidence to where he was or where he could be besides what she found out from the prisoners of Sendak's ship.

                She worried. What if she never found them again? What would she do? What would she tell her mom? She shook her head and turned the music in her headphones a bit louder. She couldn't think like that. Pidge knew blind optimism wasn't in her best interests, but they've made a lot of progress. Plus the Blade of Marmora have been helpful enough to check for information if they're able to. She'd have to remember to ask Keith about it the next time he goes out on a mission.

                With that, Pidge headed for the bathrooms to brush her teeth. Walking into her room, she sighed again. Trying to stay positive was still hard though. She just missed them so much. Unfortunately for Pidge, she was about to feel worse. As soon as she took off her headphones, a huge crack of thunder rattled the castle. A shriek shot its way through her throat, squeezing the top of her headphones in her hands. She leaned against the door, short, shallow breathes escaping through her teeth. She balled up her fist against her mouth, irately groaning at herself for screaming. Just then, the door she was leaning on opened with a _whoosh_ , sending her careening backwards with a yelp.           

                She didn't land on the floor, she realized, as she soon felt someone under her, hearing a groan reverberate through their chest. She looked back to see Lance.

                "Oh my god, Lance, I'm sorry!" she said, immediately standing up and holding a hand out to him.

                "It's okay, Pidge, it's my fault anyways," he chuckled, taking her hand and lifting up himself up. He looked at her other hand. "Hey, you found my head- ohh, wait.."

                Pidge gasped. "YOU. _YOU_ were the one who stole my headphones!" she said, pouting her bottom lip and standing on her tiptoes toward him. Lance half assed a sincere response.

                "I just used them a bit when I was sleeping!" he confessed, holding his hands up in defense, a glint of mischief in his eyes.

                "Yeah and then you lost them," Pidge said, her eyebrow perking up, her hands on her hips.

                "Or maybe I left them right where you could find them," Lance mused, setting his chin in between his finger and thumb.

                "Or you just lost them like you-" a sudden crack of thunder sounded, causing Pidge to grab Lance by his shirt, involuntarily looking up at the ceiling with worry on her face. She sighed when she realized what she did again in front of Lance, carefully looking back up to him to see a concerned look on his face.

                "Pidge..."

                "I'm- I will-... I'll be-"

                With an exasperated sigh, Lance grabbed her hand and led her into her room. Her door shut behind them, Lance walking over to her window to once again seal it shut. He stopped a moment after that, going slightly stiff. Lance looked back at her sheepishly.

                "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "If what I did last night made you feel uncomfortable, I don't..."

                Pidge stared up at him. Knowing that was a concern of his made her heart skip a beat. He's a truly caring person, Pidge realized. Not that she never knew that, but...

                Pidge shook her head. "It-it's fine, Lance," she looked down as she whispered. "It's... it's the most sleep I've gotten in almost a week so... it's okay."

                "Alright, um..." Lance stammered, suddenly turning away from her with his hands on his hips. Pidge quirked her eyebrow up.

                "..Lance?"

                "Hmm?"

                "What are you doing?" she inquired.

                "Well I'm not gonna watch you change!!" Lance said huffily.

                "Oh!" Pidge quickly changed into her sleep clothes, lightly tapping Lance on the shoulder once she was finished.

                There was an air of awkwardness about them this time, as if this were more of a transaction than the quick thinking Lance had the night before. She and Lance quietly walked over to the bed when thunder, albeit muffled this time, echoed around the castle. Pidge gasped loud, involuntarily grabbing Lance, pulling him and causing him to trip, the both of them falling onto Pidge's bed.

                Both of Lance's forearms were on either side of her head. Pidge nearly stopped breathing. Lance's face was so close to her's, she could see the few faint freckles that dotted his nose. His deep blue eyes had speckled green flakes in them.

                The whole encounter lasted all of a few ticks, but to Pidge it felt like forever. But Lance quickly stood up, rubbing the back of his neck and voicing many apologies in a row. For a moment when he glanced back at the door Pidge thought he was going to leave. Much to Pidge's relief, he laid down on the bed with his back to her, which Pidge wasn't offended in the least about. After all, there were more than a few awkward encounters between the two of them just now.

                Another crack of thunder and Pidge squeezed her eyes shut, grasping at the back of Lance's soft sleep shirt tight. She could feel Lance turning his head slightly, as if he wanted to say something.

                Finally after a couple minutes of silence, Lance finally spoke. "So... why are you so afraid of thunder, Pidge?" She wasn't sure if she wanted to answer, it was a very ugly and scary memory. Well, not exactly scary, but it was scary to her at the time.

                "Um..."

                "You don't have to answer," Lance said suddenly. "I'm sorry, it obviously bothers you, I don't need to know the reason why."

                Pidge touched her forehead between his shoulder blades, taking a deep breath. "When I was seven, I was home alone while my parents took Matt to his soccer game in a neighboring town. I'm always fine on my own... I walked after school to the bookstore to pick up a few books and it started to rain before I got home. By the time I got there, it was down pouring... the thunder was so loud and intense, I could feel the house shaking. The house shook so hard, that.... one of our bookshelves fell on me."

                Pidge could feel Lance tense. Suddenly he turned to face her, concern washed all over his face. "You got crushed by a bookshelf?"

                "Well, not exactly," she felt Lance relax. "The bookshelf actually got caught on our loveseat, so just the books fell on top of me, but I was seven, so..."

                "That's what did it for you."

                "Yeah... after the thunder finally subsided I somehow got the heavy shelf to stand back up, I cleaned up all the books, and I crawled under my covers and cried..." Pidge closed her eyes, a content sigh escaping her mouth. It felt like a million bricks had been lifted right off her shoulders. "I haven't even told Matt about it..."

                Lance's eyes widened. He flushed, looking down, not sure what to say. "Thank you... for having enough confidence in me to tell me..."

                Pidge smiled a bit, simply nodding before nudging her forehead to his sternum, finally falling into a pleasant sleep before she could even hear another crack of thunder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so everyone knows, the first couple chapters take place in between seasons 3 and 4. There will probably be time skips depending on where I take the story, but I thought there would be a good place to start.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Storms are finally over and the gang is off Planet Quaid!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Voltron: Legendary Defender, but please enjoy the chapter anyways!! I really enjoyed writing this one, it's my favorite so far!

                Pidge felt light on her eyes. She groaned, groggy. Had she bumped the Christmas lights she had around her bed? She rubbed her eyes, squinting one open. Her lights weren't on, but her bed was conveniently empty of another person. Pidge almost felt a pang in her stomach, however she didn't think much of it when she realized the light wasn't coming from her lights but from her window. Pidge jumped up from her bed, nearly tripping over one of her trash paladins, absentmindedly thinking that she really should clean her room, her hands against the cool glass of the window. It was still raining (was it just always a torrential downpour on this planet or what?), but despite the rain and cloud cover, light was still peaking through. She sighed, a small smile appearing and her eyebrows quirking in relief. She was just so happy for the thundering nights to finally stop.

                Spinning quick on her heel, she began finding clothes to wear for the day. As she was picking out a shirt, she stopped short, looking back at the light shining through the window. Lance opened the window for her, so she could see that the nights and horrific storms were over. She smiled, thinking about what a thoughtful friend she had in Lance.

                Bumping a green space caterpillar gently out of the way, her door _whoosh_ ed open, stepping out and heading to the bathrooms for her morning shower. Standing under the spray of the cool shower felt amazing, the cool water streaming down her back giving her a pleasant shiver. As she began to wash her shoulders, she realized she heard something. Was it music..? No, there were no instruments or anything, was it.. singing? She could hear someone singing. It was in a language other than English, but it was definitely a language of Earth. It sounded like... Spanish. And it was close. Pidge looked around for any indicator as to where it was coming from. Finally putting her ear against the cool tile of the wall, she realized that it was coming from the room on the other side, which was the men's bathrooms. By process of elimination, Pidge tried to figure out who it could be. It was super early in the morning, so who would be up at this hour and also happened to speak Spanish?

                Lance. It was Lance singing on the other side of the wall. He was singing some sort of love song. It was so soft yet passionate sounding. He must not have realized someone else was showering on the other side of him. Nonetheless, it wasn't like Pidge was complaining about it. He nearly put her in a trance. The way he rolled his R's made her stomach flutter, the breathiness of his words made her weak in the knees. She sat down on the tile, letting the cool water wash over her and the music slowly take over her, closing her eyes and resting her head against the wall.

                A few minutes later, the singing ceased, snapping Pidge out of her trance. She was a bit disappointed, if she were being honest. She wished she could just click the repeat button, and listen to his lilting voice forever. She quickly finished up and turned off the shower before Lance realized someone was in the bathroom next to him. Pidge exhaled, pursing her lips as she tried to calm her beating heart. She vigorously towel dried her hair and quickly ran a brush to at least try to tame her wild short hair. At times she really missed having her long hair, but she couldn't deny that her short hair was easier to wash and comb through despite it wanting to stick up in every direction imaginable.

                Thinking about her hair at least kind of got her mind off Lance, but it was a bit inevitable. Slowly changing into her clothes, she remembered what she confessed to him the night before. It was such an embarrassing memory for her, she never thought she'd tell anybody her secret. But Lance was so close... so warm, so... very... warm. She couldn't believe he'd slept in her bed with her not just once but _twice_... _in a row_! No matter the fact she had a boy in her bed, the real fact of the matter was that he helped her sleep when she had barely had ten hours of sleep in the five quintents before he heard her sobs. Two nights of him lying next to her were the best she'd slept in a week. She was almost embarrassed by how much she... enjoyed it? Suppose that could be the word.

                Pidge walked out the bathrooms, exhaling slowly once again to get her mind off Lance. But of course it seems the universe never works in her favor. She was so out of it she didn't even see him coming down the hallway and rammed right into him, Lance suddenly clutching her shoulders, steadying them both so they wouldn't tumble over.

                "Hey, Pidge, you okay?" Lance said with a laugh. She could smell him, freshly showered and pampered, smelling of avocado and aloe vera. The scent was just so clean and inviting, she couldn't help herself blushing. Lance quirked his eyebrows up, his lips curling into a sincere smile.

                "Just got out of the shower, huh?" he asked happily, finally letting her shoulders go and stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Hot showers are the best, huh? I love the feel of the water."

                "Uhh," Pidge panicked to answer the question. He must have noticed the flush of her face, realizing that he must have thought that she had taken a hot shower and was in fact, _NOT_ listening to his disgustingly entrancing voice until her fingers became pruny. She chose to lie instead. Was it even technically lying? Just withholding the truth is all......... _It's lying_. "Y-Yeah, they're great," Pidge stammered, nodding her head.

                He laughed lightly, scratching the back of his head. His smile faltered a moment however, though, before he asked, "Uh, how- how long have you been in the shower?"

                _Busted!_ Pidge thought, quickly trying to think up another lie. _What is wrong with you!! You infiltrated the Galaxy Garrison as a boy for a **year** , you can make up **one lie** so he doesn't know that you sat and listened to him sing!!_ "Oh, um," she stammered again, trying her hardest to keep her voice steady. "N-Not that long, I was only just in there, maybe a ten minute shower."

                Lance relaxed his shoulders, exhaling through the corner of his mouth. "That's good- I mean, uh, good, showers, good hot showers are nice too when they're, uh. Short. Too, I-I suppose," he stuttered, looking anywhere but her eyes.

                Pidge _pfft_ ed. A valiant effort, she supposed. Not any better than her wild lie, but it was his best to not let on that he was singing in the shower. Not that he had to hide it. He had an amazing set of pipes, but she of all people could understand hiding a talent or hobby, simply content in performing it in the comfort of one's own privacy. In an attempt to not embarrass him or worse, make him not want to sing in the shower anymore, since it obviously made him happy, plus to save herself embarrassment, she decided best to leave it in the dark.

                "I'm gonna head to the hollow deck, go say hi to Kaltenecker," Lance said, his default half smile returning to his lips. "You wanna come with?"

                As much as Pidge inwardly flushed at Lance wanting to spend time with her, she had to decline. "I'd love to, but I'm going to do some tune up modifications on Green for the next while now that we're gonna be getting off this planet today."

                "Oh yeah," Lance said, realizing something. "I bet you're so relieved."

                "Heh, yeah, I-I am," Pidge stammered, suddenly remembering what she revealed to him last night. "And, um... thanks, Lance."

                Lance squeezed his lips together in a side smile. "It's no problem, Pidge," he said, lightly pinching her cheek between his fingers. Almost annoyed at the gesture, Pidge nearly slapped his hand away before she saw his eyes staring pensively into her amber eyes. It was only for a moment, Lance shaking his head and chuckling.

                "I'll bring you a milkshake later, yeah?"

                Pidge nodded thoughtfully, waving goodbye before walking the opposite way down the hallway to get to her Lion's chamber. She slowly looked back toward him, watching his long strides, the broadness of his back, the way his chocolate brown hair clung to the olive skin of his neck. She whipped her head around before he could see her staring back at him. Looking down at her fiddling fingers, a small fervent smile appeared on her lips, content at the repeating memory of his breathy, rhythmic words reverberating secretly in her ears, her heart beating anxiously at the thought of hearing it again.

* * *

 

                Pidge lied awake in her bed, her blanket half draped over her body, one leg peaking out. Her hand laid over her stomach, the other high above her head, staring up at the ceiling, hearing only the sound of her small fan whirring not far from her bed.

                They'd finally gotten off that water logged, god-forsaken planet Quaid (at least they didn't have monsters during their storms), back up in space and on their way back to Olkarion. Two days in the vacuum of space, where there could be no way in hell thunder could reach all the way out here. Two days of no thunder.

                And yet she still couldn't sleep.

                What could possibly be keeping her up at night? _Night? Is it technically night if you're up in space?_ Pidge always finds herself  asking questions such as that as she fell asleep, but none of them ever kept her from actually sleeping. She turned over, pulled the blanket up to her chin, sticking a leg out, pulling a leg back in, rolling onto her stomach, rolling onto her back. With one final exasperated sigh, she furiously kicked off her blanket, swinging her legs over the side and walking to the other side of her small room. Glancing over at her side clock, she saw that the castle time was on 2 am.

                Pidge looked around, trying to find something that would tire her out. She could always go to the training deck, get a little extra exercise in, work on her combat? Although training more often than not just made her more alert. And more sweaty at that. There wasn't any security footage to cross reference, no Galra information to analyze. She could work on her physics equations? Tune up Green? Those would have the opposite effect on her. Maybe she could clean her room?

                ...

                ......

                .........

                The Gameflux was always an option, maybe getting through a few levels of Killbot Phantasm would wear her out a bit. But the Mercury Gameflux was in Lance's room. She didn't want to disturb him again, not with all the yelling and shrieking she'd done only a few quintents prior. He'd surely be okay as long as she kept the volume down.

                She opened her door, padding quietly along the dark hallway save for the dim lights around the paneling of the walls. She stopped at a room not too terribly far from hers, pausing for a moment before she quietly knocked on the door. No answer.

                "Lance...?" she roughly whispered. Before she could chicken out in having to make another noise and not wanting to bother him, his door suddenly _whoosh_ ed open to reveal Lance, half kneeling on the floor, his arm having reached up to push the button to open his door, the Gameflux controller in his other hand. A look of slight concern washed over his face as he looked up at her hooded figure.

                "Pidge? You okay?" he asked. If Pidge was gonna be honest, she wasn't expecting Lance to actually be awake, doing the exact thing she was going to do.

                "Uhh.. oh, um..." Pidge stammered, sheepish at the fact that he thought she was in trouble again. "I'm fine, Lance, thank you, I just.."

                "Can't sleep?" Lance asked, finishing her sentence. "Heh, me neither. Can't really pinpoint why."

                "I'm the same," Pidge replied, half smiling at their similar predicament, climbing over his legs and plopping herself down beside him, resting her back on the side of his mattress. "I was actually coming here to do exactly what you're doing right now."

                "No kidding," he replied casually, laughing softly as he ventured through the ghostly mansion of Freya Von Trennis. "I've been having just a _time_ with this particular dungeon, this is the fourth time I've had to redo this part. It's not even the boss that I'm stuck at, it's just a dumb mini-boss. Have you gotten here yet?"

                Pidge looked at the screen, watching the 16-bit characters walk across the old decrepit dining room of the mansion in a single file line as she pulled her knees to her chest and setting her arms atop them. "I got past the mansion a long time ago. Didn't have any real issues with it besides the randomly generated ghosts popping up and dragging me into a battle before I could cast heal, leaving me to waste the first move of my magician  to make her heal everyone instead of using Curse to make the ghosts tangible, making the physical attacks of my other two heroes completely useless for one more turn than I was hoping."

                Lance sighed. Speaking of ghosts, which had just appeared on screen, prompting the eerie battle theme of the mansion to play as the match began. Lance casually used Curse on the enemies, realizing but not letting on that that was a much better idea than just using escape every single time he got touched by a ghost enemy. At least he wasn't underleveled than the basic enemies at that point. That would be embarrassing for her to see.

                "Pfft, you named your hero 'Lancelot'?" Pidge asked, giggling. Lance made a big show of a fake gasp, looking her way and then haughtily whipping his head away with a 'hmph!'.

                "I'll have you know Lancelot was a great warrior hero, once upon a time!" he said, hotly pressing the buttons on the controller.

                " _Fictional_ hero. Lancelot was a _fictional_ hero, remember," Pidge said, nudging his ribs, causing him to laugh out his nose. "So the fact that the name 'Lance' happens to be in there is just pure coincidence?"

                Lance squinted his eyes at the screen. "Oh look at that. Well what do you know. Who knew an amazing name such as this sat in the name of a great hero."

                Pidge lightly punched his arm, the both of them giggling along with one another. "So what are you having an issue with?" Pidge asked, lightly setting her head on his shoulder as he played.

                She could feel his body tense as she set her head down, relaxing only a moment later. "U-Um, well, I get to the mini-boss, this evil Governess Hela Fraunstahder, who has two turns during her fight, where she uses Trance to cancel the use of magic from my magician for three turns, and casting Crackaga, an all lightning move that nearly depletes all of the HP from my warrior character, who is weak against magic attacks, meaning both my magician and hero must use two potions right at the beginning of the fight in order to heal both the hero and the warrior since my magician can't use magic. I do alright fighting her up until the end of the fight, since her magic attacks get more and more accurate the further into the fight you get, and by the time I use my last potion, she always casts Trance again. And then I die since I have no way of healing myself."

                Pidge thought for a moment, wondering why it was so easy for her to get through the mansion when she first played it. "Well, you could always synthesize an Anticaster elixir here, instead of synthesizing a bunch of potions. And you could equip the Drakendark Axe on your warrior."

                Lance pursed his lips to the right, not confidant in her strategy. "Wouldn't that mean going into the fight with only two potions instead of six? And the Drakendark Axe is a cursed weapon, couldn't that cause my warrior to go berserk?"

                Pidge nodded, acknowledging his worry. "That's true, but the Drakendark Axe has two times the evasion. There's a chance he could go berserk and not listen to your commands, but it's a risk that could go in your favor. And have Lancelot use the Anticaster to counteract the Trance spell, so... Máchica, really?" Lance simply shrugged, Pidge sighing, grasping his bicep with one hand and pointing to the screen with the other. "So Máchica can either heal or attack using one of her charms without having to wait three turns."

                Lance still wasn't sure, usually wanting to take the safe route when it came to tough video game bosses, but you can only listen to the evil hag like laugh a handful of times before it really starts to get annoying, so Lance figured he might as well try Pidge's strategy. The worse that could happen is he'd just have to try again, like he'd already done several times before.

                Hearing the evil hag laugh once again, she cast Trance and then Crackaga, expecting the worst, yet he watched the purple aura'd warrior zip out of the way at the last second, leaving him at full HP and only Lancelot taking minimum damage and Máchica taking even less than that since her magic defense was high. Lance smiled, using Anticaster on his magician, deciding to take another risk and using a high MP magic attack, getting a lucky critical hit on the Governess, staggering her to being able to only use one move on her next set of turns.

                "Hey, it worked!" Lance said happily, his body shaking with a short laugh. "Pidge, you're really good at-"

                He turned his head to see Pidge snoozing soundly on his shoulder, her cheek slightly smushed where her head sat. Lance half smiled, a soft chuckle echoing through his body. He gently slipped her glasses off her face, folding them and setting them on his bedside shelf. The eerie yet happy sounding battle finish music of the ghost mansion played as he defeated the evil Governess. He laid his cheek gently atop her head, failing at trying not to smile as he saved and traversed further into the dungeon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can anybody guess which game I was referencing?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really enjoyed writing this chapter a lot! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!!

                Pidge stirred, feeling slightly stiff but contentedly calm as she opened her eyes. _Why... am I sitting up..?_ she wondered to herself. _Did I fall asleep like this?_ She yawned, rubbing her eye, suddenly realizing someone was leaning against her. The more she woke up, the more she became aware of her surroundings and remembering where she was in the first place. She remembered not being able to get to sleep, wanting to play a game until she got tired and watched Lance play some Killbot Phantasm until she eventually fell asleep.

                Lance and her were leaning up against the side of his bed, Lance's head resting against the mattress and Pidge's head at the same time. At least in that sense they were fairly comfortable. Pidge's arm lightly wrapped around Lance's limp forearm, taking a deep breath and exhaling shakily as she realized how incredibly close they currently were. It wasn't like she was uncomfortable, in fact she was the exact opposite. She felt incredibly at ease being this close to Lance. After all, she was able to fall asleep barely fifteen minutes after she cuddled up to him when she couldn't fall asleep before. And he was sound asleep too. Wasn't he playing the game late last night because he couldn't fall asleep as well?

                Pidge went to push her glasses up on her face when she realized they weren't there. Her freckled cheeks dusted pink. _He must have taken them off when I fell asleep_. She giggled, a warm feeling embracing her chest and a fluttering in her stomach. Not that she needed them to see, but it was a nice gesture all the same.

                She glanced over at Lance, not being able to see his face unless she moved, not wanting to wake him from his sleep. She could hear his steady breath, the feeling of his shoulder rising up and then down making her feel even more at ease, a small smile appearing on her face.

                She then realized that she could still hear the soft soundtrack of Killbot Phantasm and noticed the controller laying in Lance's limp hand. Chuckling, Pidge grabbed the controller from his hand, careful not to wake him up. It looked like he had finally gotten past Freya's mansion, happy that her advice had obviously helped him. He was back in the town nearest to the mansion with the Ruby Brooch of Freya Von Trennis in his party's possession, ready to return it to her great, great granddaughter in order to get the next piece to the Millennium Map. He'd done pretty well, then, hopefully using some of her advice when he was fighting the boss. She looked down at Lance's hand, her hand almost touching his. Pidge didn't want this reverie of hers to end so quickly, of her being so close to Lance. Every time he'd slept next to her she'd woken up alone. This was the first time he was still there when she woke up. She just wanted him to stay there a bit longer.

                She saved Lance's game, carefully using her toes to restart the system to get onto her own file of Killbot Phantasm. She was at least three areas ahead of where Lance was in the game, but she was sure he wouldn't mind if she played in front of him. Plus, he wasn't even awake, so there were no spoilers to be had there. She just.. didn't want to end their closeness yet. She couldn't exactly place why she felt so anxious to not wake him up, why she still wanted to feel the warmth from him, the feeling of him weighing slightly on her. Everything was just so incredibly pleasant feeling. She didn't want the tightness in her chest, the twinges and butterflies in her stomach to stop.

                She exhaled, beginning to focus a little more on where she was in the game. She relaxed a bit more against Lance's body, squeezing his bicep in her elbow a little as she pushed the buttons on her controller. She was already halfway through the Rotale Woodland, the once gentle and quiet wood now cursed to be a rotten, putrid swamp full of poisonous enemies that was now known as the Fetid Forest. Poison levels weren't exactly her forte, she liked more haunted areas and water levels in video games, but she knew enough to get by. Didn't mean she liked poison levels. The main thing she needed in poison levels or when fighting against poison enemies was high resistance, which was hard to come by in this game. She could always grind for exp, but the most she gets at level up is +1, maybe +2 res at a time, and at this late in the game it took a long time to get to the next level. Plus seeds of resistance only worked on one character per seed given and weren't easy to find in the first place.

                Pidge's only options to get through this forest without dying were using armor and weapons that up resistance at the cost of attack and maybe defense, but lowered defense was better than a high chance of getting poisoned. Antidotes were expensive, rare to find in chests and took a lot of items to synthesize that she could be using for more useful alchemy. And poison meant negative HP for each character afflicted each turn, which means she's having to use more potions or healing magic instead of attacking. Making it to the middle of the level oughta help her, which is when her magician is finally able to learn to Recover, a spell that heals poison, paralysis and confusion, right before she fights the mini-boss. But getting to that point can be a bit tricky nonetheless. Nothing Pidge couldn't handle, though.

                She already made sure to give most of her seeds of resistance to her magician, who even though has high magic defense, unfortunately has pretty low resistance, and equipping her hero the metal boomerang, which had a bit lower attack power but was able to hit a full line of enemies at once, helped take out Bittersnakes and Water Hags.

                "You're pretty good at this game," a voice suddenly said. Pidge yelped, moving away and dropping the controller. Lance smirked, a glint in his dark blue eyes.

                Pidge, desperately trying to calm her racing heart, asked him, "How-How long have you been awake?"

                Lance shrugged. "Maybe about ten minutes?" _God, that long? Just sitting there, saying nothing with me pressed up against him?_ Pidge blushed, not exactly sure what to say. Lance side smiled, glancing at her up and down for a moment. "Why didn't you just wake me up?"

                "Um.." Pidge stammered for a moment. She couldn't just tell him it was because she liked cuddling with him, that would be nuts. "Y-You said you couldn't get to sleep before, so I just didn't want to wake you up."

                Lance shrugged and smiled, choosing not to think much into it, much to Pidge's relief. She picked the controller back up and relaxed against his mattress again. "I guess I'll trek back and find a save point then."

                "Awww, why?" Lance fake pouted.

                "Well, I'm sure you don't want to see any spoilers, so.."

                "Come on, I don't mind, I like watching people play video games," Lance said, snaking his arm around her shoulder, draping his other arm over his knee and leaning himself on her, causing a hot blush to creep over Pidge's cheeks. "Maybe I can learn a thing or two from you. You did help me beat that dungeon last night."

                Pidge was happy she was able to help, smiling at the thought of Lance actually listening to her. She started playing the game again, pushing up on the directional pad to go further into the festering woods. It was fun to have him watching her play, him asking the occasional question, squeezing her closer to him whenever he laughed at a joke she made or when she easily defeated a low level enemy.

                She realized it was so nice just to hang out with him, just to talk with him. She'd been so preoccupied with trying to find her family that she hadn't had much time to really sit down and just hang out with him. There had been quite a few times they've talked one on one, but this was a rare time they could just sit and relax, to just talk and laugh, sit close... Pidge's heart skipped a beat when Lance lightly pushed his forehead against the side of her head for a moment as a laughed at a silly moment between the hero and the magician. Pidge exhaled as slowly and quietly as she could so Lance couldn't hear her anxiously try to still her wildly beating heart.

* * *

 

                It had been an incredibly long day; intense training, returning a distress signal from a nearby planet being attacked  by Galra forces, and for the fifth time in a row Keith showed up at the last minute to form Voltron and finally push back the rest of the remaining attackers. With Keith nowhere to be seen, the best Allura and Lance could do was hold off the Galra while Pidge and Hunk touched down on the planet to get the nearby inhabitants to a safer location. Everything ended up fine in the end, and Keith has been doing amazing work with the Blade of Marmora the last few months, but it was an incredibly close call there for a while. Needless to say, Shiro was less than impressed with Keith.

                With all of that and then a massive and grueling training session from Shiro, not to mention Pidge still finding time that night to try and fail to find more intel on her missing brother and father.

                All of that and Pidge still couldn't get to sleep. She could barely feel her arms and legs, her eyes felt heavy. She even took a warm shower to help tire her out more, but still nothing. She was just floating somewhere in between being awake and actually sleeping, which was worse than not being able to sleep. She sat up, an exasperated sigh escaping her throat. She stared around her dimly lit room, looking around at all the things strewn about the floor, clothes, electronics, trash paladins. Her eyes fell on her two blue and green space caterpillars sleeping soundly on one of her trash paladins. _At least they can sleep_ , she thought to herself.

                She just didn't understand. It had been almost two weeks since Quaid and she had only gotten a handful of even slightly restful nights. She'd tried everything to make herself sleepy, training, warm milk, stretches before bed, even resorting to counting sheep. Still, nothing helped her.

                Pidge groaned and got up from her bed, slipping her glasses on. She paced around, and paced, and paced, and paced some more. Finally coming to the conclusion that she wasn't going to tire herself out by simply pacing about, Pidge opened her door and stepped out into the dimly lit hallway. Tiredly padding past her room, she scratched her head, lightly slapping her hand to her cheek as she wracked her brain at what to do. This was really starting to get irritating, two weeks of little sleep really was enough. Plus with all the missions, training, and analyzing countless sets of data to try to find her family should have been wearing her out to the point that she should fall asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow. How could she not find the outlying issue here?

                Pidge then heard a noise, turning her head and seeing Lance walk out of his room, rubbing the back of his neck and covering his mouth as he yawned. Suddenly realizing she was there, he said, "Oh, Pidge. I didn't see you there."

                She side smiled, sympathy in her eyes. "Hey, Lance. Are you alright? What are you still doing up?"

                He smiled in tandem. "I'm fine, Pidge, thanks. I appreciate the sympathy. It's nothing though, I just-"

                "Can't get to sleep," they both said in unison. Lance raised his eyebrows in surprise. Pidge cupped her hands together, leaning her back on the wall and looking down at her feet. Lance leaned his side against his doorframe, crossing his arms as he stared at her.

                "So...." Lance murmured, biting his bottom lip, craning his neck to try to look at her face. "Are _you_ alright, Pidge?"

                She looked up at him, puffing her bangs away from her face, a small side smile appearing on her face. "I'm fine, just... haven't been able to sleep and I-"

                "Don't know why," they said in unison once again. Pidge furrowed her brows, looking back down again, putting her thumb to her lips, thinking. She looked back up at him, a tired albeit inquisitive look in her eyes.

                "When was the last time you were able to get to sleep, Lance?" Pidge asked quietly. Lance looked upwards, his mouth squishing to the side in thought.

                "Uh, I'm not really sure I guess," he quietly chuckled. "I fell asleep not long after I beat that mansion you helped me get through." Pidge raised her eyebrows in realization. "And, you know, I actually slept pretty peacefully when you were so scared of the thun-DER!" Lance oofed as Pidge suddenly pushed him off the doorframe, turning him around and maneuvering him into his room with both hands on his back.

                "Uh Pidge?" Lance said confused as he heard his door close. She pushed him onto his bed, landing on his back with a wild look on his quickly reddening face. "Pidge?!"

                "Shh," Pidge said, bumping his legs onto the bed with her knees.

                "Wha, but-"

                "Shut up," she shushed, crawling into the open spot next to him. "I want to try something."

                "T-Try what," Lance breathed. Pidge grabbed his shoulder, pulling him closer and pressing her face into his chest so he couldn't see the bright red blush powdering her freckled face. Her heart was beating so hard in her chest, her idea could prove meaningless if she couldn't get her heart to calm down. Although Lance's was also beating swiftly in tandem. Nonetheless, there was no going back, no relenting now. _Let's see if this works._

                Lance set his hand heavy on her waist, fiddling with her soft sleep shirt, finding difficulty in searching for the right words to say in a situation where a girl pushes you onto a bed. He gently set his hand to her shoulder, pushing her away to look at her face. She looked down sheepishly, then tentatively looked up to him. The room was dimly lit by the floor lights, Pidge barely able to see his face, but his blue eyes were huge. She could smell his minty breath, she could feel his warm hand squeezing her shoulder. Suddenly he leaned forward, causing Pidge's heart to skip a beat. She squeezed her eyes shut, only to feel his hands on her face, slipping her glasses off her face. She ripped open her eyes as he leaned over her to set her glasses next to his bed.

                Her heart almost couldn't take it, not that she was entirely sure what she was expecting. She desperately tried to calm her labored breathing, hoping to god he wasn't hearing it. She squeezed herself to the bed, hiding her face in his chest once more. She felt his hand weighing back on her waist, curving around to her back, gently squeezing her sleep shirt between his fingers. For a moment Pidge thought that maybe this was a mistake, feeling her heart beating so fast may be making her feel too anxious to sleep.

                But he was so warm. And so close, with his arms tight around her. She felt so at ease and so content and so.... safe. She felt her eyes drifting shut, a floaty, wispy feeling falling over her as she finally fell into the warm and welcoming embrace of sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anybody else both excited but extremely nervous for S7 or is that just me

                Pidge was running through a dark tunnel, her legs so hot and painful she thought they would give out before she made it to the end. _Almost there. I'm almost there!_ She was so close, so close she could almost feel it in her grasp. She had been waiting for this moment for so long, her whole purpose up to this point was only a few long strides away and-

                There he was, standing at a desk with his back to her, his messy brown hair sticking out in all directions, exactly the way hers does. She couldn't help but smile ear to ear, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. He turned around, his amber eyes on her, a wide smile appearing on his face as he opened his arms to her.

                "Matt!" Pidge cried, running towards her brother, tossing her helmet to the side and throwing her arms tight around him. Tears streamed down her cheeks, pressing her face into his shoulder as she sobbed, so happy to have her brother back in her arms.

                "I'm so happy to see you, Katie," he said, setting his hand on the back of her head. "But you're too late."

                "Wha-"

                His hand, like a blade, cut straight through her stomach. Her breathing haggard and labored, she set her hand on the forearm penetrating her abdomen, shakily looking up at her brother as blood spurt from her mouth.

                "Mm-M-Matt....." she stammered, wheezing as he yanked his arm out of her. She fell to her knees, hot tears falling over her cheeks, clutching her stomach as she felt warmth spill through her trembling fingers, slowly looking up into his dark, empty purple hued eyes.

                The sound of the witch Haggar's voice resonated from Matt's mouth, a low, sinister laugh penetrating Pidge's ears. "All is lost, Paladin. Suffer at the hands of your own flesh and blood!" the voice screeched as Matt's razor sharp hand drew back and flew right at her face.

                Pidge gasped, opening her eyes with a start, huffing as she realized it was just a nightmare. Maybe the worse nightmare she'd had yet. She'd always only ever had nightmares about her family getting killed in front of her by an enemy, but this was the first time Matt... had been the one to kill her.

                She closed her eyes, reorienting herself, opening them back up to view her dark room. Why was her room so dark? Why weren't the lights around her bed on? Finally fully waking up, she realized she was tangled in bed with another person. Literally. Tangled.

                Pidge was squeezed against Lance as close as she could be, her arms folded up to his chest. Her legs were curled around his, one of his arms under her head like a pillow as it wrapped around her head, the other arm draped over her side, his hand resting on the middle of her back. She was almost going to freak out just a little until she realized that it was her idea to sleep in the same bed as him. She also remembered that this was not her room.

                She peered up at Lance's sleeping face. He looked so calm, steadily breathing in and out, feeling his chest move against her with every breath he took. Even through the dimly lit room, her eyes adjusted enough to almost clearly see Lance's dark face. He had tiny freckles that speckled his face in random places, his lips were slightly parted as he breathed, Pidge still smelling the hint of spearmint from his toothpaste. She tentatively reached her hand to his face, cupping his cheek in her hand, gently rubbing her thumb under his eye. His skin was so smooth, likely from his hygiene regimen, Pidge carefully running her fingers down his cheek, just barely letting her thumb touch his soft, smooth... _inviting..._ lips...

                Lance suddenly stirred, a groan escaping his throat as Pidge quickly removed her hand from his face before he cracked an eye open. His deep blue eyes stared into her amber ones for only a moment when the two quickly untangled from each other and sat up, staring away from each other. They sat in silence for who knows how long before Lance finally spoke up.

                "Soooo..." he began, pulling his leg up to his chest and setting his elbow on his knee. He wasn't exactly sure what to say. He'd woken up next to this girl several times now with little of an explanation as to why they were still doing it. "What exactly... happened last night, Pidge?"

                Pidge had a hard time looking his way, embarrassed that she could already feel a hot blush reddening her cheeks. She huffed, reaching down to grab her glasses from next to the mattress, crinkling her eyebrows in thought.

                "Well, I haven't been able to sleep properly for weeks," Pidge stammered, careful not to look in his face. "I slept fine when you, ehm... helped me during the last nights on Quaid, a-and I finally fell asleep after helping you play Killbot Phantasm a while back."

                "I remember that," Lance spoke up. "I fell asleep without even noticing not long after I beat that dungeon."

                "Y-Yeah, well..." Pidge desperately tried to find the right words to say next. "It's been weeks since then and I haven't been getting much sleep, so when you said you hadn't been able to either, I... I-I..." she trailed off, tentatively glancing toward him. His face was awash with concern, his eyes getting big for just a moment.

                "You wanted to try to... sleep with me again to see if we'd actually fall asleep this time?" he finished for her. Pidge sheepishly looked at him once more, sighing and squishing her hands to her cheeks.

                "Next to you, sleep _next_ to you," she stammered. "I'm sorry, it was such a stupid idea, I-I didn't mean to force myself into your bed, I should have just stayed in my room and counted to one thousand or something instead of pushing you around so-" she started babbling.

                "I'm gonna stop you right there because I'll be honest, it was the best sleep I've had in weeks," Lance interrupted.

                Pidge looked up at him in shock. "Wha-What? The best what in what?"

                Lance couldn't help but laugh, nudging her with his shoulder as she stared up at him in disbelief. Finally getting his composure back, he said, "Pidge, 1. You didn't force anything. If I was gonna be even a little uncomfortable, I would have told you, 2. Even before that, if I thought you'd be uncomfortable, it wouldn't have happened in the first place, and 3. As always, you were correct."

                "C-Correct?"

                "Yeah," Lance said. "Remember, after you pushed me onto the bed, you said 'I want to try something'. This had to be it, right?"

                Her face got red as she pushed up her glasses. _Well at least he listens to me_. "So.... I guess my conclusion to this experiment would be..."

                ".... that we sleep better if we're.." Lance stammered, "next to each other?"

                "Well, how many times out of four have you slept better when next to me?" she asked him. At that moment her amber eyes glowed despite the dim light of the floor paneling, as if they were sparkling with both nervousness and curiosity. It made Lance's stomach flip over just a little bit.

                "Um," he said, biting his bottom lip. "Well, four, I guess. Fallen asleep faster, even."

                "I'm the same..." Pidge said quietly. She hugged her legs, setting her chin on her knees as she sat in thought a little bit more. It was ludicrous though, right? How could she possibly sleep better next to Lance of all people? Although she didn't really mean the 'of all people' part; he was an incredibly empathetic person, able to know exactly what one is feeling at any given moment. He gave amazing bear hugs, his hands were always so warm. And as awkward as it was, waking up tangled in his arms made her feel immensely secure, as if nothing could hurt her in his enveloping, protective embrace. And he smelled so incredibly good, the mixture of avocado and aloe vera making her heart almost skip two beats. Everything was an important factor in why she was able to sleep better next to him, but it still made her feel very awkward. She could remember wanting to sleep in between her parents in their bed when she was younger, so what exactly was the difference there? Besides maybe the fact that those were her parents and this was an incredibly tall, cute olive skinned seventeen year old boy sleeping next to her instead.

                _Did I just admit he was cute?_ Pidge thought to herself. _What is wrong with me lately?_

                Lance spoke up, shocking Pidge out of her whirlwind thoughts when he touched her arm. "So.... what do you want to do now?" he asked her curiously.

                Pidge put her thumb to her lip in thought, a little afraid at what she was going to say next. "I guess... we could try again...?"

                A blush made its way to Lance's cheeks, looking away and scratching his cheek. "W-Well, if you want to, I mean.." he trailed off.

                Pidge huffed, slapping her hands gently to her cheeks a few times before throwing her legs over the side of the bed and standing up, holding a hand out to him. "For now, let's just get up for the day and get there when we get there," she said as he took her hand, tensing her arm as she helped him up from the mattress. He side smiled and nodded, the both of them heading for the door.

                As the two walked out, a person suddenly rounded the corner, nearly bumping into the two.

                "Pidge?" Keith said, his eyebrow quirking up as he saw her walking out the door, noticing she was still in her pajamas. "What are you doing in Lance's room so early in the morning?"

                Pidge blanched, panicking to find words that don't scream 'Oh I was sleeping in his bed with him'. It wasn't like they were doing anything bad, but it still wouldn't go over well with everyone else if they found out Lance and Pidge were sleeping together.

                _Next to each other! **NEXT** to each other!!_

                "We uhm," Pidge stammered. "I, w-we..."

                "We were up late playing Killbot Phantasm," Lance said nonchalantly.

                "And you just left Pidge to sleep on the floor while you slept in your soft bed?" Keith asked, crossing his arms over his torso as he scrunched his face.

                "What, no, of course not," Lance shot back.

                "So she slept in your bed and you on the floor?"

                "No, I-"

                "In your bed _with you?_ " Keith asked heatedly, uncrossing his arms and his hands balling into fists. Lance put his hands up in defense.

                _Uh oh_ , Pidge thought, her eyebrows going up in shock. At that moment however, Pidge noticed something off.

                "No no!! It's not like that!!" Lance stuttered, trying to find his composure as the black haired paladin stared him down. "We just, I, we _both_ , on the _floor_ , both of us fell-"

                "Hey, why are you in your Blade of Marmora armor?" Pidge suddenly asked, crossing her arms and scrunching her eyebrows in irritation.

                It was Keith's turn to get defensive this time. "Oh, I..." he breathed through his nostrils, knowing that he was going to get backlash afterwards. "Kolivan has a mission for me. He notified me late last night and I was hoping to slip out before anyone woke up. Just..." he looked down, a strain in his gray eyes before looking back up to Pidge and Lance. "Just don't tell Shiro and Allura until after I've left, please." He had a pleading look in his eyes. Pidge sighed, flicking her head towards the end of the hallway. Keith smiled, relief washing over him as he started stepping down the hall once more, pulling his hood over his head. "Thank you. I'll be back soon." And with that, he was gone.

                "I wonder what he's doing on these missions," Lance said quietly to Pidge.

                Pidge sighed. "It's none of our business, apparently," she said sadly. She grasped Lance's sleeve, looking up at him shyly. "Um, so...?"

                "Just, meet me back here tonight before you go to sleep, and we'll..." he trailed off for a moment, trying to find the least embarrassing words he could for their situation. "Corroborate your theory tonight."

                Pidge laughed, holding her hand to stomach as she tried to stifle her giggle. "Yeah, we can do that," she said, walking along to her room. She stood in front of her door as it _whoosh_ ed open, glancing back at him. At that moment, his dark blue eyes gazed back at her, his lips curling into a smoldering smile that set her heart on fire. Her eyes got wide, quickly stepping into her room and shutting the door as fast as she could, setting her back to it and slowly slipping down until she softly landed on the floor. She grasped at her shirt over where he heart was, feeling the frantic beating underneath. She glanced over at her two blue and green space caterpillars, sleeping and snuggling next to each other on one of her trash paladins. As visions of his olive skin, the smoothness of his cheek, his unbelievably deep blue eyes began flooding her mind. She wondered what it would be like to tangle her hands into his silky chocolate brown hair, what it would be like to press her lips to his soft, warm mouth.

                Her face was incredibly hot, pressing her hands to her fiery red cheeks.

                _Oh no._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I certainly hope you all enjoyed the chapter! It ended up being shorter than most of the other ones, and I thought about just adding on with a cut, but I felt like that was a good place to end the chapter. Please follow and review if you like, I really appreciate all the support!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am posting this RIGHT when the new season drops, soooo hope you all enjoy!!!

                Pidge had never fallen asleep so quickly and peacefully than when she was next to Lance. She had no scientific reason for why she could only sleep next to him, all she knew that going to sleep next to him every night made her feel so much calmer. Although she could save herself the embarrassment to waking up tangled in his arms every morning. No matter how they went to bed, even if they both had their backs to each other, they'd always end up somehow in some kind of snuggling position. Whether it was wrapped in his arms, hugging him from behind, his arm draped over her stomach, his cheek resting on the top of her head. Unfortunately there was no stopping involuntary sleep movement. But she'd be lying to herself if waking up next to his calm, quiet sleeping face didn't make her already feel good about the upcoming day.

                It had been a couple of weeks since Pidge and Lance's... agreement? Suppose it could be called that. Every night since then, Pidge and Lance had been sleeping in the same bed and not once did they miss out on a full night of sleep, save for the times before bed when they'd just talk to each other. No matter what it was still awkward.... just sleeping in each other's beds. And yet Pidge didn't exactly mind.

                Most of the time, Lance tended to wake up before her, usually wanting to get ready for the day. Pidge normally would just lie in the bed, but as soon as she knew Lance was definitely  not coming back to the room, she'd sneak over to the bathrooms where he was already taking his morning shower.

                She never did forget hearing him sing. His voice was so melodic and lilting, it made her heart melt. So of course she snuck to the bathrooms again one morning when she knew he was in there to see if he'd do it again. Which he did. Pidge almost felt bad for spying on him, but she loved hearing his voice, and he only ever did it when no one else is around. One time her and Allura were in the bathrooms while Lance, Coran and Keith were in the opposite and unfortunately, aside from obvious small talk among the paladins, no singing happened that morning. However this time was different as they (although to Lance it was just him) were the only ones so far to get up for the day.

                If anything, the others would be up, maybe in the kitchen to eat first, and Keith had already started his journey with the Blade of Marmora, so he only comes back very seldom and only when he needs to relay important information about Lotor or Zarkon. So at least sneaking to the bathroom without getting caught would be easy. Plus she could shower and listen at the same time, it was a win win.

                For the last couple of weeks, his singing just seemed so... happy? Not that Pidge could understand Spanish, for all she knew he could be singing super upbeat sad songs, but it wasn't like she was complaining. She would just sit down, let the cool water run over her, listen to the slightly muffled lilt of his voice, as if she were back home, just simply listening to the radio.

                But she could tell when he was singing love songs; they just had such an amazing sound and feel to them. The softness, the breathiness of his words, the melodic tones. She definitely liked those the best. They made her heart soar. Made her think about feeling her fingers run through his chocolately brown hair, pressing her lips to his warm olive skin.

                Pidge shook her head, slapping her hands to her cheeks a few times to snap out of it. She needed to stop those thoughts from sneaking their way into her head. It seemed like she was having them more and more. Pidge wasn't dumb, she knew that it could mean something, the way her heart beat a mile a minute just by simply smiling at her obviously meant-

                No! Stop it, brain! Off! Turn off!

                Lance's singing stopped, which signaled her to start finishing up her shower and get away from the bathrooms while she could. Finally getting dressed and heading out into the corridor, she ran into someone.

                "Pidge, I've been looking everywhere for you."

                "Keith!" Pidge exclaimed with a wide smile, throwing her arms around Keith's dark Blade of Marmora armor. "What are you doing here? Is everything going okay with the mission?"

                "It's great to see you too, Pidge, everything has been going smoothly," Keith replied back, giving her a tight squeeze. Suddenly feeling a gasp of realization come from him, he pushed away from Pidge, leaving his hands on her shoulders. "Pidge, I have something very important to give you."

                Pidge scrunched up her eyebrows, realizing that Keith was being very serious right now. "Is everything alright?" she asked as he felt inside the pockets of his armor, pulling out a scrawled on piece of parchment paper.

                "We couldn't risk this falling into the wrong hands, so we couldn't send it over in a transmission, and since I have to recon with Shiro really quick, I thought I would deliver this in person," he said, putting the piece of paper in her hand.

                "What is it?"

                "It's information, on your brother's last known whereabouts."

                Pidge's eyes widened, her ears nearly ringing so loud she almost didn't hear the rest of what he was saying.

                "Unfortunately this isn't guaranteed, but hopefully the people at these coordinates still have the proper information-" Pidge threw her arms tight around him, smiling so wide she thought she might split her lip.

                "Thank you so much, Keith, I-I... I don't know what to say."

                "Don't thank me yet, Pidge, that's the only lead we have right now. I just hope you can find him with this," Keith said, beginning to back slowly away from her. "I gotta go meet with Shiro, keep me posted okay?"

                Pidge nodded quickly, turning around and running to the Green Lion's hangar. She quickly geared up into her paladin armor, going as fast as she could, staring at the quick scrawl on the piece of parchment in her hand. This was it, she could finally find her brother. She could feel it. It was right in her grasp.

                Just as she was about to head into Green, she was suddenly stopped by a voice. Glancing back, she noticed Lance walking quickly toward her.

                "Pidge?" he asked, a glow of concern in his eyes. "Is everything okay?"

                "Lance!" she ran up to him, a smile appearing on her face. "Lance, Keith gave me information on the last known whereabouts of Matt!!"

                Lance's face lit up, grabbing her by the shoulders and giving her a squeeze. "Pidge, that's amazing! Well, give me a minute to suit up, and-"

                "Suit up?" Pidge asked, cocking her head. "What for"

                Lance raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth twirking up awkwardly. "So I can go with you, obviously."

                Pidge stopped smiling. "What, no, Lance."

                "No what?"

                "I'm going alone," Pidge told him. Lance let go of her shoulders, crinkling his eyebrows.

                "What do you mean alone, Pidge?" Lance asked incredulously.

                "I mean by myself-" she began to say, interrupted a moment later by an exasperated sigh from Lance.

                "Pidge, you know that's not what I meant," he explained, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Why would you go alone when you have all of us to help you?"

                "This is my brother, Lance," Pidge said, crossing her arms defensively. "My _brother_ , I need to do this on my own. I thought you of all people should understand that."

                Lance stared at her in disbelief. "What makes you think I would do anything but ask my teammates for help if something happened to one of my siblings?"

                "Matt has been missing for all this time, Lance, this isn't the same."

                "You have teammates, Pidge," he said, gesturing with his hands. "We're here to help you, we're supposed to help each other."

                "I don't need your help right now, Lance, I'll be fine on my own," she said, raising her voice.

                "I can be there for you though, Pidge, what don't you understand-"

                "I'm not a damsel in distress that needs Sir Lance to come in and save the day!" Pidge yelled, balling her hands into fists. As soon as she saw the hurt pass over his cloudy blue eyes, she turned away. Staring down at her feet, feeling a pang of guilt shoot through her chest. But she couldn't stop. She needed to go. She looked back, peering at Lance's heartbroken face one last time, her eyebrows crinkling up in apprehension. With that, she slipped on her helmet and headed into Green.

* * *

 

                Pidge felt hot angry tears threatening to spill over her eyes, biting her lip in hopes to stop them from coming as she steered Green back into the hangar. She quickly treaded down the ramp, heading over to the opposite side of the hangar to take her paladin armor off. She ripped her helmet off, tossing it to the ground, holding her palms up to her eyes as the tears finally began to spill, barely able to hold her sob back.

                It was a bust. A dead end. The outpost located at the coordinates Keith gave her had been all but obliterated. The place was still technically intact but had been abandoned fairly recently. The gravity generator was busted, meaning everything was floating around. Pidge surmised it must have been a Galra attack or raid because no one was left and everything even remotely important had been picked clean from the outpost.

                Everyone was long gone. Which meant even though Matt had been last seen there, there was no one left to push her in the next direction. She couldn't even connect to the outpost's mainframe, any important data must have been taken since the computers were completely destroyed.

                Pidge sniffed, trying her hardest not to sob as she pulled off her armor, pulling a pair of shorts and a soft shirt from the drawer she had next to her paladin armor. _I am never going to see my family again, am I?_ she asked herself. Slipping her glasses back on, she trudged up the stairs of the castle, coming up to the common room. She stopped when she realized a person was sitting in one of the seats around the small coffee table.

                "Lance," she whispered, crossing her arms under her chest. She didn't exactly expect him to be sitting there when she returned to the castle. He looked up at her, his back arched and his elbows sitting on the tops of his knees, waiting there with his pajamas on. "What.. What are you still doing up?"

                Lance looked away, a flash of hurt and irritation crossing his sharp features, his eyebrows ruffling down his forehead. "You know I can't sleep without you..." he murmured, squeezing his hands together.

                Pidge scrunched her shirt in her hand at her stomach, squeezing her lips tight, knitting her eyebrows together in guilt. She shouldn't have said that, that was a really hurtful thing to say, especially when she knows how it felt to not sleep now without him there. It was already past 2 am, he was probably desperately tired.

                He peered back at her from the corner of his eye, softening his gaze when he finally got a look at her. Her hair was ruffled up, she was squeezing her shirt way too tight, faint tear trails stained her freckled cheeks. He let out a breath he had been holding in, standing up and padding quietly towards her, leaning down to look her in the eyes.

                "You didn't find anything on Matt... did you?" he asked solemnly. Pidge replied simply by shaking her head, balling her hands into fists as her tears finally started spilling down her cheeks.

                "What if he's dead, Lance," Pidge whispered after a few moments of silence. Lance raised his eyebrows in surprise, concern washing over his face as he watched this small person tremble in distress. He pulled his hands from his pockets, reaching under her arms and squeezing his arms tight around her, leaning back and nearly picking her up off the floor.

                "He isn't, Pidge," he murmured into her soft hazelnut hair, feeling her soft sobs against his neck. "He is strong. I know for sure he's doing just fine. If he's anything like you, he's fighting with everything he has to get back to you and your dad." He leaned back, cupping her face in his hands, wiping away her stray tears and looking her straight in her gigantic sparkling amber eyes. "Okay?"

                She set her hands over his own, a sad smile crossing over her face as a few more tears spilled over. "I-I'm sorry, Lance... You were right, I should have listened to you. I'm sorry," she whispered.

                "Don't be, Pidge," he said with a dry chuckle. "I wouldn't have helped anymore than just you being there anyways."

                "But you were right.... just being there would have helped."     

                She pulled him back into her arms, burying her damp face into his shirt, feeling his hand rub the back of her hair. She suddenly felt herself being picked up, her toes barely touching the floor as Lance walked along the corridor until he got to his room, quietly walking in and setting her gently on the bed, slipping the glasses from her face. He climbed in next to her, pulling her close and covering them both with the comforter.

                She squeezed her arms around him as tight as they could, still feeling the urge to sob. He was always there. He's been there for her since the start. He's helped her so many times, made her laugh, made her feel so incredibly secure that she felt safe whenever he was around. She could feel his legs maneuvering around her own, tangling in hers already. His arm curved around her back, his hand covering the exposed skin of the small of her back, Pidge shivering at the sensation of feeling his cold fingers touching her skin. She took a chance, peering into his brilliant blue eyes staring back at her. She ever so lightly touched his jaw, his eyes fluttering at the feeling, reaching up and cupping her hand in his. He smiled, feeling him shake with mirth as he pulled her close, closing his eyes. Pidge tucked her head under his chin, and chose to do the same.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was suuuuuper incredibly long, I am so sorry but I couldn't stop writing!!! I hope you all enjoyed reading this, I am very proud of this chapter!!

                After everything she'd been through, she finally found him. It took almost everything out of her, but Pidge finally found him. Her brother, Matt, she'd finally found Matt. She nearly thought she'd lost him on that planet of infinite gravestones, but thankfully enough, she remembered the deciphering book both her brother and father had studied together. All thanks to that, she finally found Matt. After all this time. She still hadn't found her father, but her brother was finally here, in the castle, directly in her eyesight. It almost felt like a dream.

                And Lance. Lance had never been so incredibly happy for Pidge. She'd been through so much, losing both her brother and her father in this same mission, both of them presumed to be dead. And yet she had stayed so strong, doing everything in her power to bring them back to her. And here Matt was, sitting next to them, eating breakfast. The night she'd brought him back, she was so happy. She'd talked and talked and talked until her eyes were drooping. But when they'd snuck off to bed finally, Lance and Pidge almost couldn't get to sleep. Pidge was smiling so hard, and yet so many tears were streaming down her cheeks as Lance held her tight, smiling in tandem at the sheer happiness he held in his heart for her.

                The next few weeks had been pretty standard. Matt did recon work with his fellow rebels, the paladins helped to strengthen the Voltron Coalition. Everything had almost been a little boring at times. Every once in a while they'd go and take out a Galra strike or blockade, but even then, Lance and Pidge mostly fought side by side, played some video games, did some training, went to sleep. It was all very... domestic at times. Not that Pidge exactly minded.

                Finally one day Allura alerted everyone to the main deck of the castle. Wondering what it could be, everyone quickly met her and Coran to find out what the important news could be. Allura was found standing in the middle of the main deck, excitedly wringing her hands together.

                "Princess?" Shiro asked inquisitively. "Are you okay?"

                "I mean she's wringing her hands together with a giant smile on her face, it's, uh, just a little unsettling," Hunk said, peering over at Shiro. "Are you sick, Allura?"

                "I am just fine, everybody, but I have amazing news!" Allura beamed, looking around at everybody as Coran pulled up a screen that showed what looked vaguely like a... party invitation?

                "What is this, some kind of party we're going to have or something?" asked Lance, putting his hand on his hip as he set his other arm atop Pidge's head.

                Pidge's eyebrows went up in realization, not even a little bit phased by Lance. "You want to have a ball commemorating all who are currently in the Voltron Coalition, I'm guessing." She wasn't asking, she figured that's what it was. Coran's and Allura's faces drooped a bit.

                "Pidge, you're entirely too smart for your own good sometimes, you know that?" Coran said, pinching his orange mustache between his fingers.

                "That is why we love her," Allura said after recovering. "That is correct though! We've been having so much success gathering members of our coalition that I believe it's time to have a show of good faith. We'll be inviting everyone from foreign dignitaries to rebel forces alike, right here to Olkarion. I want them all to know that we are here supporting them, no matter what."

                "Ahh, okay, so you want us to fly around in our lions, do a little show, form Voltron, give em the ol' razzle dazzle?" Lance said, his one arm still on Pidge, the other gesturing around wildly.

                "Um, actually, no," Coran said, putting his hands behind his back, Lance taken aback at the statement.

                "While we will still be highly alert at any security breach," Allura began to explain, "I'd actually like you all to wear formal wear when the evening comes. No paladin armor, nothing casual, none of those things you affectionately call "sneakers" despite the fact that they squeak quite often, Hunk." Hunk sadly looked down at his shoes. "Everyone will look their very best! Even Keith and Kolivan will be there briefly in support. In the meantime, we'll be sending out invitations, however the ball will be happening in five quintent's time. We shall be ready then!"

                "Plus it's a time for us to all de-stress," Coran said in his ever enthusiastic voice, "it is a party after all!"

                With that, Allura parted ways with the gang with Coran on her tail, the two of them obviously excited for the party they were throwing. Pidge was happy Allura was so excited. She certainly needed some time to wind down, act like the princess she was every once in a while.

                "Soooo, you think there will be good food at this shindig? Ohhh, you think Allura would let me help with the caterers? Have we even gotten caterers yet? Oh man now I'm excited!" Hunk was gleefully babbling, Lance and Pidge smiling as he hurried out the door after Allura and Coran. Hunk nearly screamed of fright when Allura suddenly popped her head back into the room.

                "Oh and Pidge?" she asked, Pidge quickly looking in Allura's direction. "Would you mind coming with me, please?"

                Lance and Pidge looked at each other, Pidge shrugging at Lance as she smiled and waved him goodbye. Allura somehow had an even more excited look in her pink-blue eyes as she pulled Pidge along, giving Lance one last alarmed look on her face as Lance watched her leave with Allura, maybe even more perplexed than Pidge at that point.

* * *

 

                Everything was set, decorations were insane, food was to die for, mostly thanks to Hunk, and most importantly, there was security at every possible entrance of not only the castle, but a beacon made by the team's resident green engineer that would send a signal to the paladins if an unauthorized ship arrived within a certain perimeter of the planet for extra security measure. They obviously did not want a repeat of what happened on Arus.

                Many foreign dignitaries, representatives from planets apart of the Voltron Coalition, rebel leaders and hopeful contenders for the VC were gathered around parts of the castle, important conversations happening in all corners of the ball room. Allura and Coran really went all out, everything around the castle had been decorated in all the colors of Voltron, music reverberating throughout the hall.

                Lance was standing at a small table over near Hunk, sipping on what he knew for sure wasn't that horrible vitamin juice he drank the last time. He had been snacking on a small hors d'oeuvre that had a crunch like a cucumber but tasted almost like avocado and shrimp topped with what he assumed was maybe something like cream cheese, but Lance didn't exactly want to pry into it. All he knew was that it tasted good.

                "Hunk, you did a really good job on all of these," Lance told him, Hunk beaming at the compliment. "I can barely even tell these aren't Earth flavors."

                "Thanks, Lance," Hunk replied with a wide smile. "I worked really hard on complimenting everything together, like the one that tastes like smoked salmon topped over what feels like Italian bread was interesting since neither of those things originally look anything like- uh, Lance? Lance?"

                Lance was no longer listening, his cup slipping from his lip, green punch dribbling out of the cup and onto the tablecloth, Hunk's voice drifting slowly from his ears. He'd spotted someone, standing next to Matt, a small smile on her face as she conversed with Ryner, her fingers linked together behind her back. Pidge looked the same as ever, however her fringe was braided down two sides, wrapped behind her head, thin green cord wrapped into the braids. Everything about her was as if she were a part of nature. Her forest green lacy dress stopped right above her knees, the skirt flaring around her legs, a thin black belt sitting softly above her hips. The collar was a short V-neck, the laced sleeves of the dress stopping at her elbows. Somehow the color brilliantly brought out her eyes, the brilliance in her eyes bringing out her freckles. He could just barely see some of the freckles still dotting around her arms where the sleeves stopped. Everything about the way she looked was so Pidge, so natural and simple yet it had such an incredible effect on him.

                Pidge was having a compelling conversation with Ryner and Matt on the integration of their tech and nature, Matt fascinated by the Olkari intellect when Pidge peered over where Lance and Hunk were eating. Lance was staring off into space in her general direction, noticing that his drink was dribbling onto the tablecloth in front of him. Pidge's eyebrow quirked up in wonder, peering behind her for a moment, seeing Allura with her hair up in a long, wavy ponytail and wearing a shimmery silver dress with long sleeves, mermaid style with an exposed back, talking to Keith and Kolivan who were wearing similar tuxedos, black with hints of purple akin to their Blade of Marmora armor. Pidge turned back around, seeing Lance striding toward them. She turned back to Ryner and Matt, assuming Lance would be passing by to speak to Allura. She nearly jumped when he stopped and spoke up to her.

                "You sure look fancy," he finally said after a silent moment. She quirked her eyebrow once again, only for a moment later a wide grin to appear on her face.

                "Thank you, Lance," she replied, pushing her glasses slightly up her nose. "Allura kind of freaked out a little bit, she wanted us so badly to pick out outfits together, but she said she didn't want to pressure me into wearing a dress because she didn't want me to feel uncomfortable, and I was like 'Allura, I've worn dresses before!'" she laughed, peering up at Lance as he chuckled.

                "Well, you look incredibly beautiful," Lance said without thinking. Pidge looked away suddenly, a small smile forming on her lips, a deep red blush painting her cheeks, trying to push her hair behind her ear despite it being braided behind her head already. Lance held the back of his head sheepishly, feeling his heart beat a little faster when he heard a quiet "thank you" leave her lips.

                Pidge looked around at all of the people surrounding them. Some were dotted around the tables, snacking on all the food Hunk almost singlehandedly planned and helped make, some were conversing with others, such as Allura talking to other leaders, and some, Pidge noticed, were dancing to the slightly upbeat tempo of the music. Pidge let out a small sigh, watching them all sway to the music.

                She felt a nudge to her elbow, looking over at Lance. "Do you want to dance, Pidge?" he asked her, a side smile appearing on his face, a sheepish blush dusting his cheeks. Pidge raised her eyebrows, couldn't help from smiling.

                "I-I don't know," she said, looking away and trying to brush her hair behind her ear again. "I'm a little too short to dance with."

                Lance laughed, holding his stomach a bit as he reached out his other hand to her. "Don't be silly, Pidge. Please?" he asked, his last statement coming out in a soft breath. "Dance with me."

                She peered up at him, looking into his deep blue eyes, the way they crinkled with his smoldering smile made her tummy flip a few times. She bit her lip, looking down and peering up at him through her eyelashes, a blush covering her freckles. She placed her hand into his, his fingers curling gently around hers, his thumb rubbing softly over her knuckles as he lead her to the dance floor.

                Soft, semi slow music was playing, a song that almost sounded jazzy with an intergalactic flair to it. Lance gently placed his hand on her hip, feeling the texture of the lace of her dress under his fingers, still holding her hand in his other hand. She held his shoulder and the two began to sway to the music. At first it felt a little awkward, they swayed to the music in silence, purposefully looking in opposite directions.

                "So," he said looking back at her," is having Matt back everything that you dreamed of?"

                Pidge beamed, her white pearly teeth showing. "It's made me so happy to see him again, Lance. He's done so much since he was liberated by the rebels. And look at me. I'm the left arm of Voltron, also battling against a galactic empire. It's interesting how similar we've lead our lives, huh?"

                "Heh, the Holt siblings," Lance chuckled, spinning her around. "I'm really happy you were able to find each other, Pidge. I know how close you two are."

                "Thank you, Lance," Pidge said with a smile. She looked down, her smile faltering, and then eventually fading. "I just wish... I knew where my dad was.... a-and I'm sure my mom thinks we're all dead by now..." Her fingers curled into his suit jacket, setting her forehead against his loose aqua blue tie. His eyebrows knitted up, suddenly hearing the music get a little more upbeat than before. Lance grinned, pulling away from her for just a moment, readjusting his hands and spinning and swaying along with Pidge a little faster. She stared up at him in surprise, a laugh escaping his throat as he spun her around again. All traces of sadness had left Pidge's face as a look of astonishment replaced it all. She giggled as the two went on swaying, dancing, spinning and laughing. She forgot all her sadness after only  a couple of minutes of watching his handsome happy face.

                Finally after a short while, the two stood at the edge of the dance floor, talking about everything they could think of, Lance's niece and nephew, Pidge's taste in music (Spanish she conveniently left out), Lance getting punched when he admitted he lost her headphones again. Pidge was sharing some of her Killbot Phantasm tips as they headed towards a table where a couple plates of food were sitting. Allura and Hunk walked over, making small talk as Lance offered to go get Pidge and him a couple drinks. Pidge leaned her elbows on the table, hooking one leg behind the other, catching her breath.

                She turned to Hunk. "Am I sweating at all?" she asked him, leaning toward him a little more.

                "Uuuuuaaaahhhhhhhhmmmmm," Hunk stammered, looking her over but not wanting to embarrass her. "Yyyyeahhh, you kinda are."

                Pidge side smiled, nodding and grabbing a couple napkins from the middle of the table, slipping her glasses from her face and wiping her eyelids, nose and forehead. She wasn't embarrassed at all, she knew she had a bit of a sweating problem. But at that moment, she really did not care.

                Pidge felt a light touch on her shoulder, turning around to see Allura smiling down at her. "I hope all of you are having a grand time tonight," she said with a sweet cock to her head. Allura's pink blue eyes were sparkling with curiosity and a hint of... anticipation?

                "...Allura?" Pidge asked quietly, noticing she was twirling a strand of her wavy white hair around her finger. She looked so beautiful tonight, if that were even possible, since she was beautiful all the time. But Pidge definitely was noticing something a little off with Allura in that moment. "Are you okay?" Allura perked up when she realized Pidge was peering into her face with a perplexed look.

                "Well... Pidge..." Allura murmured. "You know that device you have, the orange one that you analyze things with and to tell the time?"

                Pidge nodded. "Sure, what about it?"

                "It's such a nice night tonight, would you please take a picture of the both of us?" Allura asked quietly, a blush creeping up her face. Pidge grinned, her shoulders rising up as she took in a deep breath of delight.

                "Of course, Allura, I'd love to!" Pidge exclaimed as she quickly pulled her device out of her skirt pocket. Pidge wrapped her arm around Allura, turning on the camera function and taking a quick picture of the two of them together. Pidge and Allura looked down at the picture, the both of them entirely delighted at the way it turned out, Allura with her shimmery dress and Pidge decked out in forest green, both of their smiles big and beautiful. They would surely cherish this picture forever.

                "Thank you, Pidge," Allura said, pulling her into a tight hug. Pidge smiled, squeezing her back in turn, a wide smile nearly splitting her face. Allura pulled away. "I just had so much fun getting ready with you today and I have so much work to do, talking with all of our guests today, I wasn't sure when I would be able to catch you. And..." she leaned in close. "You and Lance seem to be having a very nice time, wouldn't you think?" Pidge was a bit taken aback by the way Allura said that, but Pidge smiled softly, a small pink blush covering her cheeks as she gave a single nod. Allura smiled, leaning back.

                "Well, I'm afraid I must get back to it, I'll see you all later!" Allura left with a wave just as Lance was coming back balancing four small drinks in his hand, holding one out for Allura to take with a smile. He happily handed one off to Pidge, setting one down for Hunk and sipping on his as they sat and talked. Suddenly remembering something with a gasp, Lance picked up a small thick square disc and handed it to Pidge. Hunk squee'd, excited about the small piece of food.

                "We made these just for you, Pidge!" Hunk exclaimed, holding his hands together in excitement. Pidge quirked up her eyebrow, eying the little disc before popping it into her mouth. Her eyes got big, her cheeks puffing out in delight, her hands raising up in excitement.

                _Peanut! Butter!! **Cookies!!!**_

                Almost bringing tears to her eyes, Pidge slowly chewed the treat and swallowed.

                "Guys....." Pidge whispered. "That was the most amazing thing I have had in a long time."

                "Well, it certainly wasn't easy to recreate something that tasted like a peanut butter cookie," Hunk replied. "But we wanted to do something nice for you, after everything you went through with finding Matt."

                "You guys are the best," Pidge murmured. "You're my best friends."

                Hunk smiled back at her, his eyebrows knitting up in empathy. He looked into his drink, seeing that it was empty, saying that he was going to go off to refill it. As she watched him go, Pidge realized what amazing friends she had. They cared about spending time with her, her interests, taking pictures with her, knowing what her favorite foods were. She was incredibly loved and happy. She just wished her dad were here with her.

                "Hunk worked really hard on those cookies," Lance said with a smile. "I hope you liked them."

                "Of course I did," Pidge replied, popping another into her mouth, silently reminding herself to save some for later. "How did you guys know peanut butter was my favorite?"

                "Allura told us," Lance told her. Pidge looked down with a smile. She was incredibly thankful for Allura, too. "Plus," Lance added, setting his hand between her shoulder and neck, leaning his lips toward her ear, a soft whisper escaping him, "you talk in your sleep."

                Pidge's eyes fluttered, her breath catching in her throat, butterflies erupting in her tummy. Was it the whisper? The closeness? Or just Lance that made her react in that way. However she didn't have much time to dwell on it. The music shifted to a soft, achingly slow song. Lance stared back at the band for a moment, slowly turning his head again to peer down at Pidge. His face was shaded, his pupils growing as he stared down at her, a hot, smoldering look on his face. Pidge had trouble looking away from him in that moment, curling her hands into the table cloth. He held his hand out to her, an almost serious expression on his face. Without taking her eyes off his, she took his hand, Lance leading them to the middle of the dance floor once again.

                Lance held her hand, placing his other hand on her hip, a similar position they were at the beginning of the night. They swayed to the music once again, much slower this time. But there was no content talk, no Killbot Phantasm strategies to discuss, no witty remarks. They simply peered into each other's eyes. Lance had such deep dark blue eyes, like staring into the deep waters of the ocean from below the waves, looking up to see streaks of moving light in the shimmering waters. Pidge's eyes likewise were like orbs of amber, like delicate drops of honey with flecks of gold and green surrounding her pupils. With every moment passed, Lance pulled Pidge closer, his hand slowly moving from her hip, curling around the small of her back. He let go of her hand, wrapping his free hand around her, holding his hand between her shoulder blades, Pidge placing her palm to his chest, sliding her other arm to his neck, her fingers caressing the hair at the nape of his neck. She felt him suck a quick breath in at her touch, squeezing his eyes closed as he let out his breath. He opened his eyes to stare back into her infinite orbs, endless sparkling shards of luminescent drops of starlight. She could feel his heart thrumming in his chest, his arms wrapping tighter around her with every passing moment, pulling her closer and closer toward him.

                Pidge's glasses had slowly slid down her nose, but she barely noticed as the romantic music surrounded her and Lance. He finally pulled her until she was flush against his chest, the two of them feeling their hearts beat incessantly against one another. Lance moved closer and closer to her face, finally pressing his cheek to hers, feeling his cool breath against her ear, a shudder running throughout her body as she threaded her fingers through his chocolate brown hair. She felt his body shake momentarily with mirth at her reaction, at this point Lance and Pidge wrapped in each other's arms, just barely still swaying to the music.

                So many emotions were running through Pidge's mind, feeling them in her body and soul as he held her in his arms. This tall, dark, witty, kind and fun loving boy had to have been feeling the same things she was feeling in that moment; this boy who had made her laugh so hard, feel so safe, so secure, so happy, so loved.

                She moved her head back, looking into his face once more, his eyes searching her face. So _loved_.

                She loved him.

                Pidge loved Lance.

                It was like a ton of bricks hit her. Like a complete revelation, as if she had found the meaning to life right in front of her. Like she had the answer to every quantum physics question ever thought of.

                Pidge placed her fingers at the base of his jaw, the other still feeling his hair between her fingers. She found herself moving forward without realizing it, Lance's pupils getting bigger as they snapped from her eyes to her lips. Her lips were just a hair's breadth from his, feeling his cool breath on her lips when she stopped, her eyes scanning around at the couple guests staring at them, a deep red blush painting her cheeks, suddenly pulling away and staring down at her shoes, feeling his smiling lips against her hairline. He stepped away from her, his hands slowly running down her arms, causing another short shudder from Pidge, lacing his fingers between her own. She peered at him through her eyelashes, seeing his bright, genuine smile and hearing a short, compassionate laugh escape his throat, he too dusting a red hue across his cheeks. She loved that look. His gaze held so much gentleness, a curl in his sweet smile, a crinkle in his eyes. But a serious look crossed his face for a moment, looking around him and Pidge, letting go of one hand and suddenly pulling her behind him, eventually leaving the main hall, the music fading slowly away behind them, only faintly being heard from the castle comm system.

                Pidge quickly followed after him, her heart beating so hard and fast she could feel it in her ears. Heading up the stairs where Lance knew none of the guests would venture, he stopped, backing Pidge against the nearest wall, one hand on the wall next to her shoulder, his other forearm on the wall directly next to her head. Both Lance and Pidge were breathing hard, Pidge's hand wrapped in the collar of Lance's suit, the other snaked around the nape of his neck. Lance moved his face dangerously close to hers once more, this time no one around to interrupt what she was about to do before. Her glasses were still slipped down nearly to the tip of her nose, Lance side smiling before carefully moving them back up to where they were supposed to sit, Pidge's eyes nearly crossing at how close Lance was to her again. His hands rested upon her once again, one to the small of her back, one sitting heavily on her shoulder. Pidge's hands both were at his jaw, her heart beating so fast, flutters in her tummy never ending. He moved once again, his eyes never leaving her lips, finally moving so close that she could feel his breath on her lips.

                And finally their lips pressed against each other. Pidge breathed in quickly through her nose, feeling sparks explode in her stomach, seeing stars behind her closed eyes, her heart beating so hard she thought it would burst from her chest. She could feel him smiling against her lips before he slanted them against hers, getting a new angle and feeling her upper lip between his mouth. He slipped away from her lips with a pop, a soft chuckle escaping his throat as he pressed his lips back to hers the very next second. His arms were wrapped so tight around her, feeling his fast beating heart against her chest. Gasps and groans were reverberating from the back of his throat, Pidge's eyebrows knitting up as she felt another shudder move throughout her body. Lance moved back, removing himself from her close vicinity, his arms still around her as he looked into her deep red face, her eyes looking down as she tried to calm her breathing.

                Lance looked around once again, gently taking her hand as he moved down the hallway into one of the rooms off the hall. Suddenly Pidge realized that they were in Lance's bedroom. He closed the door, digging through one of his drawers, pulling out a couple pairs of clothing. He looked back, the dim light shading his face in a way that made Pidge's heart beat swiftly. He handed her some of the clothing in his hands, gently pushing her to the side of the room and turning her around. She could hear him removing his suit, Pidge's heart beating even faster as she unzipped her dress, slipping on her sleep shorts and sleep shirt Lance had been keeping in his drawers since they change rooms at times. She nervously looked behind her to see him slipping off his dress shirt, revealing his broad, toned, dark skinned back. She quickly turned back around, her face growing extremely hot, finishing changing into her sleep clothes. She finally looked back again to see him in his pajamas, hanging his suit on the wall,  carefully peering back at her, almost as if he still wanted to make sure she was finished changing.

                Pidge quietly padded over to the bed, laying down with her face toward the wall. She felt the mattress move, feeling Lance's hand heavy on her hip before moving his hand toward her neck, moving her hair behind her ear, pressing his lips to her neck. Pidge bit her lip, squeezing her eyes shut at the incredibly different sensation. She let out a quick breath, turning over to see Lance directly overhead, both his hands on either side of her head. He slipped the glasses from her face, setting them down gently next to the bed, turning back only to feel Pidge wrap both of her arms right around his neck, smashing her lips to his. Their lips moved against each other, slipping away from one another only to slip back like magnets. It was everything Pidge had dreamed this would feel like, how his lips would taste, the feel, his arms wrapped around her, his body weighing on top of her. Was this real? Was it a dream? _Please. Please don't let this be a dream_.

                One last, achingly long finishing kiss, his lips slowly parting from hers, he peered down at her, her eyes sparkling in the dim light, her hair slightly messy, her lips pink and puffy, her cheeks red as his Lion, her freckles dotted all over her face.

                "You're astonishing," he murmured, his eyes shifting between her eyes, her hair, her lips. The remark made her stomach flip, squeezing her lips together and letting out a shuddering breath. She peered back into his blue eyes, caressing his jaw line with her fingers, Lance leaning down to press his lips to her jaw, and then her cheek, her forehead, Pidge closing her eyes at the gesture. He pressed his lips once more to hers, his hands finding her hands above her head, lacing their fingers together. His lips moved against hers again, suddenly feeling his tongue swiping between her lips. She squeezed her fingers against his hands as she felt his tongue touching hers, an entirely unusual and unexpected sensation erupting from her chest. The two finally parted, barely able to catch their breaths. She could feel his breath on her mouth, feeling his palm cover her cheek, caressing under her eye with his thumb.

                Lance leaned over to lay down next to her, Pidge quickly wrapping her arms around him, their legs tangling around each other, Lance squeezing her tight to his chest, resting his cheek atop her head. Everything that happened was completely unexpected, extraordinary, remarkable. She curled her fingers into his soft sleep shirt, snuggling further into his chest, feeling him softly chuckle, holding her closer. _I love him_ , she thought as she closed her eyes. _I love him_ , she thought as she listened to his heartbeat. _I love him_ , the last words she remembered thinking as she drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it weird that I watched someone play Resident Evil 7 Biohazard throughout the entirety of writing this? Yes right??


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this was enough to be considered a slow burn.... Forgive me!!

                Pidge had been awake for at least 15 minutes. She was curled into Lance's arms, not a terribly surprising notion since she woke up squished against him most mornings. She was staring at his sleeping face, watching his shoulders rise up and down with his steady breathing, peering at the serene look on his face. He had faint little freckles dotting his nose, only being able to see them if you were close to his face. One of his arms were under her head, the other wrapped around her, his fingers curled into the hem of her shirt, feeling his knuckles brush against her skin. Her hands moved to his jaw, feeling is warm skin under her fingertips.

                Her heart was beating so quickly, peering down and scrunching her eyebrows together. She woke up like any other typical day, wrapped up in Lance's embrace one way or another. She could see her dress unceremoniously dumped on the floor of the corner of the room. Her lips had a tingle that she had never felt before. But she couldn't help  but think that the night before.... _What if it was just all a very vivid dream?_ What if she hadn't danced all night with Lance, held him close, felt his breath on her, felt his lips all over hers? If it was just all a dream, it was an incredibly cruel dream. No matter if it was a dream or not, Pidge had an epiphany.

                She loved Lance. She loved his face, his laugh, his kindness, his selflessness, his sincerity. She loved sleeping next to him, playing video games with him, feeling his skin underneath her fingers. She didn't know what she'd do if it all had really been just a dream. With everything the two of them had gone through so far, it wouldn't be far off the mark for them to develop deep bonds with any number of their teammates. Pidge had a great friend in Keith and Allura and her got along so well. But Pidge especially connected with Hunk and Lance. Maybe because she spent time with them at the Galaxy Garrison, or maybe more so from their time spent in space, all Pidge knew was that she enjoyed her time with Hunk and Lance. Especially Lance.

                For a long time now she knew she felt something for him. His gaze made her heart stop, his touch made her knees weak. There was such a vulnerability to sleeping next to one another, and yet the two of them felt so incredibly comfortable next to each other, so much so that sleeping alone was nearly impossible. And Lance was such an amazing person; selfless, kind, willing to help as many people as he could. And while the team at times would criticize his jokester nature, Pidge actually found it very endearing. She loved goofing off with Lance and Hunk. They were teenagers, after all.

                She suddenly felt his arm move from the hem of her shirt to her back, pulling her even closer toward him and startling her from her thoughts. "How long have you been awake for?" he murmured into her hair. She closed her eyes, wrapping both her arms around his torso.

                "Not for very long," Pidge lied, her response muffled by his sleep shirt. She could feel his hand rubbing up and down her back, Pidge biting her lip at the sensation. She almost wished he'd stop, having a feeling of doubt in her mind about the events of the night before.

                But then he moved back slightly, grasping her chin between his finger and thumb, Pidge suddenly forced to look into his blue eyes. "You okay?" he asked sincerely, a soft smile plastering his face. Pidge felt weak looking into his face, breathing out a faint 'uh huh' in response. He chuckled at the response, studying her features, peering at her freckles, her eyes, her messy hair, her lips. She felt a slight shuddering breath leave his body as his eyes focused onto her hers, his thumb lightly caressing her bottom lip.

                "I know it's super early in the morning," he began, his eyes flicking to her lips, quickly swiping his tongue across his lip, a sly smile on his face, "but I really want to kiss you right now."

                Pidge's eyes got big, her thick eyebrows raised, her heart nearly stopping at his bold statement. _Well alright, suppose that implies what happened last night was **not** a dream. _ His eyes bore holes through her, feeling his hand at the nape of her neck, the one at her back pulling her closer.

                "Oookay..." she breathed, curling her fingers into the collar of his shirt. He drew forward, fitting his soft lips over hers. And it was just as intense for her as it was the first time. She inhaled sharply through her nose, butterflies erupting through her, traveling from her stomach and up to her chest. She grasped his jaw in her hands, pulling him closer, feeling him smile against her lips as he slanted his mouth against hers. His hand grasped her hip, her leg curling around his knee, suddenly feeling him shift, pressing her body into the mattress under him. She threaded her fingers through his hair, feeling his tongue swipe her bottom lip.

                She felt his hands roam over her arms, her neck, her face. Everything was giving her such a tingling sensation she was afraid he could feel her shivering underneath him. Nevertheless, she loved the feeling. Just the feeling of everything that was happening to her. The warmth, the touch, the small chuckles escaping his chest every now and then, the way he would peel away from her lips to pepper small pecks to her freckled cheeks.

                But in all their kissing glory, Pidge couldn't help but think what this meant for the two of them. Yes, they were kissing. That much she knew, obviously. But after this was all said and done, once they were up out of their bed, what would happen then? Would they act normal? What was normal now? She barely knew if they would even be a thing after they finally stopped. And if it was that, would they be able to keep doing this? Would they keep sleeping next to each other? Or playing their games late at night? Or messing around about the castle, laughing with each other at breakfast, just sitting and talking about nonsense? Pidge shuddered at the thought of not being able to be as close to him as she had been the last couple of months. She had never felt happier, especially now that his lips were stuck to hers.

                _Please.... never let this end...._

                But feeling a different kind of shudder erupt from Pidge, and feeling her hands curl tighter into his shirt, Lance stopped what he was doing, lifting himself onto his forearms and starting down at her red, breathless face. She was huffing, pushing her hand flat to his chest as she peered away from his gaze. His eyebrows knitted up, a caring smile appearing on his face. He laid back down, wrapping her tight in his arms, flipping onto his back, hearing a surprised gasp escape her throat as she was suddenly laying on top of him. He curled one arm around her back, the other pressing his hand against the back of her head, burying his face in the crook of her neck, feeling his skin against hers. She gently closed her eyes, just holding him close to her, smelling his hair, feeling herself raise up and down with every breath he took.

                "... I like you a lot," he finally spoke, Pidge shivering at his breath hitting her neck. She lifted her head, her messy hair fanning her face as she peered down at him, Lance suddenly lifting up and pecking her on the lips. Surprised by the action, not having enough time to react as he retracted himself from her only a second later, Pidge bit her lip, couldn't help but laughing at his wide, stupidly cute smile. He let out a laugh, pulling her down again, laughing and rolling them over the bed, holding each other tight, suddenly yelping as the two fell off the bed with a thud, laughing even harder.

                They both laid contentedly in each other's arms, Pidge snuggled into his side. After a couple minutes, he lifted them both up, sitting on the floor. "Your braids are just hanging down now," he said, peering into her face, a soft smile appearing on his face as he moved her messy hair behind her ear, letting his hand linger as his fingers caressed her cheek. All the gestures Lance was making, the looks he was giving her, everything he was doing made Pidge believe he was completely besotted by her. _He did just say he likes you, you dummy_.

                He took her hand, lifting her to her feet, scratching the back of his head as he tried to think of something clever to say. The moment was over now. There was no more kissing, or caressing or holding in each other's arms now. It was back to the real world, now having to work through what exactly was going on between the two of them.

                "Pidge..." Lance began to say, his eyes searching around the room for something to say. She looked down, hugging her arms to herself, unsure of what to say in that moment. "I-I wasn't kidding, you know." She looked back up to him, a short gasp escaping her at the absolute smoldering look he was giving her. "So... can we just go back to how we were..." he asked her quietly. He reached for her hand, gently threading his fingers with hers, side smiling as he brought it up to his lips. "... with just a little more?" he finished with a rough whisper.

                Her eyes got big, her chest swelling as a wide, happy smile spread across her face. She nodded silently, feeling him pull her close to place a short but loving kiss atop her forehead. She closed her eyes at the gesture, exhaling a calming breath as she placed her hand over his own. She opened her eyes, peering over at the clock at the side of Lance's bed. She pulled away slightly, letting their joined hands fall between them. Suddenly a loud noise erupted between them, Lance looking up with a mortified look on his quickly reddening face. Pidge giggled, holding her hand to her mouth to stifle the laughter.

                "We should probably go eat breakfast," she giggled, pulling him toward the door, whooshing open for them and leading them down the hallway toward the kitchen. They let go of each other's hands, heading to the kitchen table after getting down a couple bowls and pouring some cereal for the both of them. The two talked for a bit, just in nonchalant conversation as Lance absentmindedly unraveled the braids from Pidge's hair, leaving her with frizzy fringe on either side of her face. Not that she cared as she stuffed another spoonful into her mouth.

                One by one, the other inhabitants of the castle padded sleepily into the kitchen, besides Shiro, who always seemed to be awake and alert at all times. Although Keith wasn't far off in terms of alertness. Allura yawned as she pulled out what looked like some kind of fluffy fruity looking energy cake from the fridge, quietly bidding the rest of her friends good morning, her beautiful white hair a bit frizzy as well.

                As the rest of the team fell into polite and casual conversation with one another, Lance and Pidge noticed Hunk nervously look back at the two as he fried up some meat for breakfast. Lance raised his eyebrow at him.

                "Hunk, are you okay?" Lance asked, leaning back in his chair, tapping him on his shoulder. Hunk looked around, his eyebrows knitting upwards.

                "Um," he began to say timidly. "Can I talk to you guys later? Privately?"

                "Is everything alright, Hunk?" Pidge asked him. Hunk shifted nervously as he transferred the meat onto a plate and set it on the table.

                "Well, it's just that.. I kind of, well, I saw something last night. I-I'm sure you don't want me talking about it in front of everyone," he tried to say the last thing as quietly as he could, but the eagle like hearing of two Alteans in the room suddenly perked up at the last statement of Hunk's.

                Lance set the chair down with a thud.

                "Did something happen, Hunk?" Allura asked, eying both Lance and Pidge, Coran peering at the two from behind her. One thing worse than Altean hearing was definitely their Altean curiosity.

                "Uh, w-well, it um, I don't think they'd want me talking about this, it's kind of private."

                _Oh Hunk. Oh no Hunk, what are you doing._

                That statement got the attention of the rest of their friends, every one of them now staring at Lance and Pidge at the breakfast table. Lance and Pidge were sweating bullets. Not that it was a bad thing that they two had obvious mutual feelings for one another, it wasn't exactly something they wanted to be broadcasting at the moment. Especially considering how they got to that understanding in the first place.

                "I-I mean, I've seen them disappear into each other's rooms before, which you know isn't that completely uncommon, we do hang out in each other's rooms all the time right, like the other day, me and Allura were reading some books in her room comparing Altean and Earth history, but you know, I always leave her room, and I can understand that we fall asleep sometimes, but I haven't seen Pidge or Lance leave the rooms at all after they go in, and I've even seen them several times leave each other's rooms early in the morning, and then last night I really noticed them dancing together a lot, which again is fine, but they both disappeared from the party, so I went looking for them and I sorta... saw them... uh... doing something... and then running into Lance's room and they never... came back... out?" Hunk finally finished babbling, peering over at Lance and Pidge's  blanched, blank expressions.

                "S-So, the two of them-" Shiro started.

                "They're fuckin'."

                Matt sputtered and spit his drink, everyone wildly whipping their heads to look at Keith, who was casually sipping what was essentially coffee from a white mug. Shiro, Hunk, Lance, and Pidge all stared vacantly at Keith.

                "I'm sorry, I'm not hip to the Earthican lingo," Coran said, peering over at Keith still sipping from his mug. "What exactly is that word?"

                Keith set down his mug on the counter. "You know, when you do," he hit his palm against his closed fist, saying in a deeper voice, " _the deed_."

                Coran's face burned red, a wild expression passing over his face. "Like Vatnaas during Doobenkin season??!"

                "WHAT?!" Allura screeched.

                "We are _not_ doing that!" Lance exclaimed, his face turning beet red as he stood up from his seat. Suddenly under the scrutinizing gaze of all of his teammates, Lance realized they were waiting for an explanation. "We just... I, we were. Oh my god," Lance stammered. "Pidge got scared one night from the storms on Quaid, so I helped her get to sleep and then after we left Quaid neither of us could get to sleep, so we figured out that sleeping together helped, and now we've just, I dunno, gotten closer?" he said, peering over at Pidge, who was still sitting at the table. "And last night at the party we, uh... made out a little bit."

                " ** _Sleeping together??_** " said a mortified Matt.

                "Sleeping **_next_** to each other!!" Pidge exclaimed. This had to be the worst time of her life.

                "Oh sure, and you didn't do anything else in that time?" Keith scoffed, ignoring Pidge and Matt. "Seems a little sketchy to me, to be honest. Especially since I've caught her in your room before, a long time ago."

                "Oh shut up, Keith!"

                "So what have you been doing to my sister, then, Lance?" Matt spat, squaring up to Lance, his matching amber eyes glaring at him. He could see the same ferocity of those eyes in Pidge.

                Lance narrowed his eyes, a sly smile appearing on his face. _Oh no_ , Pidge thought. She didn't like that smug look on his face, knitting her eyebrows together in a panic. Lance was getting seriously close to his _I don't give a_ _frick_ attitude. "Oh no, no, no, Matt," Lance explained, shaking his head and waving his finger as he placed his hand to his hip. "It isn't what I did to your sister," he scoffed, getting right up close to Matt's scowling face, "it's what I did _with_ your sister."

                "Whhaaokay!!" Pidge exclaimed, quickly pulling Lance backwards and putting herself between them as soon as she saw Matt's nostrils flare, very nearly raising his arm up as if he were going to punch Lance. "I'd appreciate it if maybe we could all drop this conversation since this is between Lance and I? Please? Hunk? **Keith?** " she spat the last name, glowering in his general direction, Keith closing his eyes and raising his hands in defense.

                "Lance, I know you're a self proclaimed "breaker of hearts", but if you think you're gonna-" Shiro began, Hunk raising his voice before Lance interrupted him.

                "Gonna what?" Lance demanded, eyebrows knitting together, his cold eyes staring straight into Shiro. Pidge looked up at Lance. She'd never seen his face look so bitter. "Finish the sentence, Shiro."

                Shiro sighed, pinching in between his eyebrows. "You know that's not what I mean. We just all know you don't usually go for girls like-"

                "Shiro!" Matt said through clenched teeth before he could stop him. Keith uncrossed his arms, standing straight in shock at Shiro's remark.

                "Girls like who?" Pidge said, suddenly looking up as well. Her eyebrows scrunched together, scowling so hard at Shiro the rest of the team thought he would catch fire. Shiro took a step back at that look, immediately regretting his comment.

                "Pidge, that isn't-" he stammered, gesturing toward her with his hands, a look of guilt appearing on his face. "I would never think-"

                "Girls like me," Pidge scoffed, looking down in exasperation. She pushed a chair into the table, walking past the group, Allura reaching her hands out toward her. She quickly left the kitchen, her sock covered feet silently padding down the hallway. Tears forced their way to her eyes, Pidge quickly wiping them away with the long sleeve of her sleep shirt. She stopped walking in the middle of the hall, nearly drawing blood from biting her lip so hard in order to not sob.

                _Girls like me_ , Pidge thought once more. _Guys like Lance never go for girls like me_. A single sob escaped her throat, Pidge palming at her eyes to stop the tears. She never thought she'd have to be reminded of that so far away from Earth.

                Pidge was a bookworm. Pidge was short, she had wild hair, she liked techy stuff and video games. She wasn't exactly the delicate type, Pidge knew that. That she wasn't the girl with the melodic voice or soft vocabulary. She was covered in freckles and liked to stick her face in front of a screen or a book. And she'd known what it's been like to have a crush on someone just for them to unlovingly call her "nerd" right to her face in front of everyone. Or to push her around the halls. Knock her books from her hands, toss her notes in the fountain. _They never go for girls like me..._

                A million thoughts were running through her mind at that moment. But then a warm hand set on her shoulder, Pidge gasping and turning slightly, looking up at the person she wanted to see most. She turned, grasping at his sleeve as Lance gently wiped the tears from her face, looking deep into her amber eyes, hot determination burning in his blue ones.

                He took her face in his hands, touching his forehead to hers. "I adore girls like you," Lance murmured. Pidge set her hands over his, closing her eyes at the close contact. She knew she wasn't a model. She knew she wasn't tall. But Pidge loved the person she was. She loved playing video games, she loved having a technological mind. Sure she had a bit of a snarky attitude, but that was a part of her personality that she wouldn't want to give up.

                And after all this time, Lance liked her. Liked her for who she was. There could be no other reason for why he would hang around her, play their video games, sleep wrapped in each other's arms at night. Dancing with one another... Sharing passionate kisses... He cared for her, knew her interests, held her in his thoughts, wanted to be by her side. She had to be doing something right.

                "Pidge, I think you're amazing," he said quietly, nudging his nose against hers. "And I would have never touched you last night if I didn't think you would never want me to do that." She gave a weak smile, biting her lip in order not to sob again, squeezing his hands at her cheeks tighter. "I've grown so close to you that just having you in the room or sitting next me to, even beating my ass at video games, makes me feel ten times better."

                Pidge chuckled, lightly kissing the corner of his mouth and removing his hands from her face, wrapping her arms tight around his neck, burying her face. She felt his arms curl around her back, lifting her up, her toes just barely touching the floor. Just feeling him in her arms was enough to make her heart soar beyond the furthest galaxy.

                "I love you, Lance," she murmured into his neck. Her heart beat frantically at her confession, scrunching her eyes tight as her fingers curled into his shirt. She just said it on reflex. But it didn't mask the way she felt.

                "Whoa..." he whispered into her hair, mirth rumbling through his body. "Just hearing you say that made my whole body tingle. Like fireworks went off in my stomach or something." She smiled against his collarbone, her entire body relaxing in his arms. He squeezed her tighter, turning his head toward her ear. "I love you, too, Pidge. I love you so much."

                Pidge shivered, exhaling a held breath, feeling her heart beat right down to her toes. She turned her head, lightly brushing her lips against his throat, feeling a slight shiver from him. She threaded her fingers through his hair, pulling his head toward her.

                "Lance..." she whispered into his ear, just quietly enough for only Lance to hear. He closed his eyes at her breath on his ear. "My... my name is Katie."

                Lance exhaled, rubbing his hand down her back, a light laugh shaking his chest. "Katie, huh?" he breathed, whispering into her ear once more. "I like the sound of that."

                After a few moments, he gently set her back down on her feet, his arms still wrapped around her. Pidge couldn't get enough of being in his embrace. She was used to it after so many weeks sleeping next to him every night, but after realizing her feelings... and after figuring out his feelings for her, wrapping her arms tight around him now was ten times more satisfying. Knowing that he's holding her because he loves her. He loves her.

                _He **loves** me...._

                Pidge leaned back, feeling his hair at the nape of his neck, gazing into his ocean blue eyes. He had a red tinge to his cheeks, a soft smile appearing on his face. He was amazing. Every single thing he did was deliberate, the way he held her, the grip of his hands around her, how close she was to his chest. She reached up with her other hand, holding the side of his face and pulling him down. She ever so gently pressed her lips to his, carefully parting them enough to feel her bottom lip slip between his mouth. She pressured her lips against his, hearing him inhale through his nose, his heartbeat quickening against her chest. She took a chance, swiping her tongue against his lips, only to have Lance's knee nearly give out, Lance stumbling to the side a bit, Pidge quickly catching him.

                "Lance!" Pidge cried, holding his arms as he steadied himself. "Are you alright?"

                "I-I'm fine," Lance laughed, holding his swiftly reddening face in one hand. "I'm alright, it just-.. I-It took my breath away."

                Pidge stared up almost blankly for a moment, not long after which she giggled, holding her hand to her mouth. Nice to know that she can even make him flustered too. The two laughed together, totally forgetting why they had even been upset in the first place.

                Lance wrapped his arms around her again. "I love you," he said, pressing his lips briefly to hers, laughing and kissing alternately before once again leaving a slow, warm kiss on her lips.

                "See....." the two parted, suddenly hearing a quiet voice. "Look at those two, that's not just messing around."

                "How sure can we be though, this is Lance and Pidge we're talking about here."

                "It's pretty damning evidence, look at how they're holding each other. It's so romantic!"

                "They're so beautiful, it's... It's actually giving me a bit of a reaction, I think I'm- I might actually-"

                "Hunk, don't you dare cry, you can't be serious."

                "Nope, it's coming, I can- yup, aaoohhh here it comes."

                "Let it out, my boy, it's not good to hold these things in. As the Mandloviers of Fuandiev always say-"

                "Oh quiznak, are we really going to get an informative lecture right now?"

                "Mandloviers are great scholars of love and emotions, it's actually quite informative-"

                "Ugh-"

                Lance and Pidge stared narrowly toward their friends, who were no longer discreetly watching them through the crack in the door. The two glanced at each other from the corner of their eyes, looking back at what essentially had gone from spying to a lesson in space history and intergalactic emotions, apparently.

                Lance turned his head toward her, pointing with his thumb down the hall behind him. "Can I watch you play Killbot?" he asked her with a side smile.

                Pidge grinned, nodding in reply. The two started walking down the hallway, Lance threading his fingers between Pidge's, leaving behind the gaggle of failing spies that were either crying or arguing over space history that they ended up not even noticing that Pidge and Lance left. The two sat contentedly together, Pidge sitting in Lance's lap on the floor, her back flat against his chest, his arms wrapped around her middle. They sat and laughed, talked about Killbot, about her dog, his older sisters and brothers, how she's so quiznacking good at this game, Lance trying and failing to snatch her controller, stealing kisses every now and then, so incredibly content in just being in each other's company.


	9. Chapter 9

                Pidge had never felt so happy in her life. She had amazing comrades, she'd traveled to so many far off places, met so many amazing and interesting people. But the best of all was that she got to go to sleep next to the person she loved every night only to wake up every morning wrapped in his loving embrace. She'd been doing that for months, but... it was different now. Everything was different now.

                They loved each other. Actually loved each other. And the rest of the team was finally seeing it in action, in real time. Shiro was still skeptical, Pidge still a little irritated by the comment he had made before, but she chalked it up to the fact that he was just worried for her, like a big brother would be. She knew his comment wasn't meant as a jab at her character, that in the past it was a fact that Lance went for tall, drop dead gorgeous, _tall_ ladies. He apologized to the both of them, giving Lance the benefit of the doubt. After all, he and everyone else knew that Lance was in no way the type to just prey on cute girls.

                As for her actual brother, despite the **_with_** _your sister_ remark (which despite its implications, Pidge had to laugh at, come on), Matt was growing on Pidge and Lance, hard. Pidge wasn't sure if he was just happy she had found somebody or that he didn't have to worry about her as much, or if that anybody had to have a special place in his sister's heart, he'd want it to be Lance. All she knew was that Matt actively tried to talk to Lance, ask him questions, hang out with him when he could. Pidge was just happy they were getting along.

                Allura may have been the best out of all of them (or at least second to Hunk). In the week or two since everyone had found out about them, Allura had closed in on Pidge's tailfeathers whenever Lance wasn't around. Allura hadn't had a significant other in more than 10,000 years, but that wasn't about to stop her from having some good old girl talk with the only other girl on the ship, besides her little mouse friend. And now Pidge had a boyfriend, so they could really girl talk. And as much as Pidge thought it would, talking with Allura about those types of things didn't even make her feel awkward. It made her incredibly proud actually that Allura saw so much of a friend in her that she wanted to talk to her about personal matters, day to day topics, or even about a certain paladin residing in the castle. Whatever the case, Pidge was happy to talk, happy to hang out, happy to have as good of a friend as Allura.

                "You know," Hunk said one day as the three of them sat in the common area playing a board game called Knights of Valor, rolling some dice and moving his little yellow knight four spaces, "you two seem a lot happier since you finally started dating."

                Lance and Pidge both looked up, Lance's arm stretched over the back of the couch, Pidge sitting sideways on the couch, leaning into Lance's side. Pidge and Lance looked at each other for a moment.

                "I guess we had never really defined it until now," Pidge confessed, picking up a card and moving her green piece on a space near the lake. Lance just smiled, pressing a quick kiss to the back of her head. "And, I mean... I know I'm happier, why wouldn't I be? Lance is my first boyfriend."

                "Ahhh," Lance mused, laying his head back on the top of the couch, "I gotta say, I love hearing you say boy- wait!" he exclaimed, sitting forward, his head whipping in Pidge's direction. "Did you say first? I'm your first boyfriend?"

                Pidge peered over her glasses, shrugging her shoulders.

                "Soooo," Lance questioned, trying and failing to mask the smile threatening to spread across his face. "Was I your first kiss, then?"

                Pidge looked away, her eyebrows knitting up. "Obviously..." she murmured, a sad look passing over her face. "I wasn't exactly the most popular person at my old school, Lance..." she explained, running her finger along the seam of the couch. "I got made fun of most of the time, there wasn't really anybody who ever liked me enough to want to kiss me..."

                Lance scrunched his eyebrows, looking over at Hunk as he shot him a concerned but sympathetic look. Lance hadn't thought much of it if he were being honest, if only maybe occasionally, and at that it was mostly when Shiro brought it up not long before that. All Lance saw was an incredibly smart, quick witted, funny, badass girl. Plus she was gorgeous, as much as Pidge didn't want to admit it. Lance wished she could see how amazing she was. He loved everything about her; he loved her honey colored hair and the way it tweeked up in random spots; he loved her amber eyes that glittered like a geode in the sun; he loved every single freckle on her body, her person like a detailed star chart of the cosmos; he loved her laugh, like music to his ears, like strums from an acoustic guitar. Someone could ask him to name one thing about her and he'd have a whole list of wonderful things that would read off as an elaborate sonnet. He loved her confidence, but even she faltered at times, especially when she thought of her past. He just wanted everyone else to see what he saw.

                He pulled her into his lap, Pidge gasping at the sudden movement. "I like you enough to kiss you," Lance murmured, giving a look so smolderingly hot that it made Pidge instantly blush. She smiled, gently touching her fingers to his smooth jaw, pulling him close enough for their noses to bump against each other.

                "And I'm so glad you do," she whispered, their lips barely brushing against one another. She felt his arms tighten around her.

                "You really don't know what you do to me," he muttered, lightly closing the gap between them, feeling a fluttering in her chest. Just as she felt Lance deepen the kiss, they heard dice roll, quickly pulling away and looking toward Hunk, who they had nearly forgotten had been sitting next to the coffee table across from them, nonchalantly moving his little yellow knight in one hand, his chin sitting in the other, happily staring up at his two best friends.

                "S-Sorry, Hunk," the two said simultaneously. Hunk laughed, waving his hand as the other laid on his chest.

                " _You guys are so gross!! **Get a room!!!!**_ " Hunk mocked, the two laughing along with him.

                "But really, I don't want you guys to ever have to worry about that," Hunk said, scrunching his eyebrows in seriousness. "You guys just seem so happy and... well, I'm just so..." Hunk stammered, looking down. Finally crossing his arms on the coffee table, he looked up with a sweet smile. "You're my best friends, and as long as you're happy, I'm happy. So please, just... be as happy as you can be."

                Pidge beamed at Hunk, smiling so wide her eyes crinkled. How in the world did she become so lucky in finding such a fantastic friend in Hunk? He'd been so incredibly supportive in just about everything he did for them, cooking their favorite foods, hanging out with them, laughing and goofing around with them, especially his support as the yellow paladin. He protected and provided such important aid to them, in so many different ways. They surely could not live happily without Hunk.

                "Soooo," Hunk murmured as Lance moved his blue knight around, "I'm right, aren't I?" Lance and Pidge both looked up inquisitively. He side smiled, an almost wise looking expression passing over his face. "You're both way happier since you started dating."

                Pidge blushed, chuckling as she felt Lance plant a hard kiss on her cheek. She leaned into him, curling her fingers into his jacket. Once again, Hunk proved to be incredibly intuitive. "Yeah... we're definitely a lot happier, Hunk."

                After their game was finished, they both bid Hunk good night, the two of them heading down the hall and into their room. Lance was the one who decided that it was their room, no longer just his room. While at times they alternated between her room and his room, the two tended to play video games until they were tired so they would just crawl into his bed. Plus Pidge's room was a hoarding messy trash heap. His words, not Pidge's. Although she couldn't exactly argue with that. But since then, she had a few belongings in his room, some clothes in his drawers. Even her trash floofs found their way over to his room. No, _their_ room. And he'd be lying if he didn't admit that it made his heart pound just thinking about _their_ room.

                Finishing his bathroom regimen, Lance walked out of the bathroom and padded down the hallway. The door _whoosh_ ed open, Lance walking in and seeing an oblivious Pidge sitting cross-legged on his desk chair, coding on her laptop and humming a song to herself. She had her bangs pinned up on her head, away from her forehead. Seeing her sitting there, one hand on the mouse, the other casually pinching her lip between her finger and her thumb, made his chest swell. There was something so beautifully... domestic about it. Lance almost smiled at how peaceful she was in that moment as he walked into the room, but he stopped in his tracks when his ears registered the song she was humming. His breath stopped short, feeling his heart drop into his stomach. He silently padded up to the chair, gently setting both his hands on its arms, leaning toward her, roughly whispering, "Katie."

                " ** _AAUUGHH!!_** " Pidge jumped from the chair, nearly dropping her laptop, pressing her hand to her racing heart. " _Lance!!_ " she huffed, setting her laptop on the desk, glaring at him. "You scared me!"

                "Where did you hear that song?" Lance asked, his lips pressed together, his eyes serious as he stared down at Pidge.

                Pidge's eyes got big, her cheeks flushing red. "U-Uh, wha-what?"

                "Where did you hear that song, Pidge?" he asked again, taking a step closer to her.

                Pidge frantically looked for words to say. She hadn't even realized she was humming it! "W-What, so I like Spanish music, is that a crime?"

                "I never said it was a Spanish song," Lance said, crossing his arms. Pidge's face burned a fiercer red, looking down at her toes. "Where'd you hear it, Pidge?"

                Pidge forced her brain to overwork, desperately trying to find an excuse for why she would know that song. _Couldn't possibly be because I was snooping around the bathrooms, could it? **Maybe?**_ She tugged at her sleep pants, scrunching her eyebrows together in thought.

                "I dunno... I... I must have heard it on a Spanish radio station a couple years ago!" Pidge laughed nervously, stepping past him to get to their bed. Lance sighed, shaking his head and grabbing her wrist.

                "That is impossible, Pidge."

                "What?" Pidge asked incredulously, turning back and peering at him from over her glasses. "How's that?"

                "Because my dad sang that song when he married my mom," Lance said, his eyes softening but his eyebrows knitting together. "My dad wrote that song, I grew up to him singing that all the time to my mom. Where did you hear it, Pidge?" he asked again. He loosened his grip on her wrist, his hand sliding to grasp her fingers. "Please, just tell me?"

                Pidge blanched. His _dad_ wrote that song?? She felt so stupid. She couldn't believe she had been caught in such a bald face lie. She was ashamed. And the look on his face... she felt so hurt in her heart for lying to him like that.

                Pidge sighed, sitting cross legged in the middle of the bed, Lance doing the same, facing her as he waited patiently for an explanation.

                "So..." Pidge began, blushing and looking down at her feet. She peered into his face, his eyes focused intently on her, Pidge looking back down and scrunching her thick eyebrows together. "Well... now I'm embarrassed..."

                "It can't be that embarrassing, Pidge," Lance said. He just wanted to know, it's not like she committed a heinous crime. "Please, just be honest with me."

                Pidge sighed, poking her toes absentmindedly, peering up into his face. His ocean blue eyes were soft, and despite his concern they were calm. His eyes searched her face, finally settling on her own eyes, staring deeply into her. She peered back down, a slight blush dusting her cheeks. _He has no business looking that cute._

                She inhaled a breath. ".... You sing in the shower..."

                "What?" Lance said, his face turning red. "What do you mean I- What were you doing sneaking around in the showers?!"

                "I wasn't sneaking around!!" Pidge exclaimed. "I was taking my own shower, and the walls in the bathrooms are amazingly thin.... B-But when I realized you only sang when you thought no one was around, I... I-I," she sighed, "snuck into the opposite showers and would listen to you sing until you were finished..."

                "You were sneaking... So you know I sing in the shower?" he murmured, peering into her eyes sheepishly.

                Pidge nodded. "I'm sorry.. but I just loved hearing you sing, and that one particular song was just so beautiful and I didn't understand what it meant, but I just felt like it was so loving and romantic that-" Lance's stomach dropped, an intense feeling ripping right through him.

                Lance pulled her by her ankles flush into his lap, wrapping his arms around her and smashing his lips to hers, a surprised "oomf!" escaping her throat. It was such a quick movement, Pidge barely registered what was happening. His lips moved swiftly against hers, a fervent desire heavy between the two as her ankles hooked around his back. Pidge wrapped her arms tight around Lance's neck, Lance moving his head to get a new angle on her lips. She shivered as his tongue touched hers, threading her fingers through his chocolate hair to deepen the kiss further. She gasped, feeling the touch of his warm fingers touch the skin under her shirt, pushing it up and feeling the cool air hit her exposed skin. The two fell back against the mattress, Lance peeling his lips from Pidge's, pressing quick kisses to the corner of her mouth, her cheek, her jaw, finding a spot behind her ear, pressing his lips firmly against her skin. Pidge quickly inhaled a shaky breath, biting her lip at the sensation. His hands moved further up her waist under her shirt as his mouth met her lips once more, her shirt riding along all the way up her chest, Pidge feeling her breasts flush against his soft sleep shirt. She shuddered, murmuring incoherently against his mouth. Lance's eyelids fluttered at her quiet sound, suddenly breaking apart from her, sitting up and backing away toward the end of the bed.

                " _Shit, Pidge!!_ " he exclaimed, covering his eyes so fast with his hand Pidge could hear his hand slap against his face. "I-I-I'm so sorry!! I dunno what came over me!"

                Pidge quietly sat up, peering his way as a blush crept its way onto her cheeks. "I-It's okay, Lance," she whispered as she pulled her shirt properly back down her waist. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't enjoyed what just happened. It was a different feeling, one that wasn't exactly unpleasant in any way. Pidge looked his way, seeing that his hand was still over his beet red face. She giggled, gently removing his hand from his face and holding it on the bed between them. "Are you okay?"

                "I-I'm fine," he said with a chuckle. "I just think, I think that... hearing you hum that song, saying that it was beautiful and romantic, I... I just had such a reaction to it, and just thinking about what it means to my mom and dad, and that someda-" Lance stopped short, his eyes getting big, forcing himself to stop what he was about to say. He began to nervously laugh. "Never mind. I'm just... I'm sorry, Pidge."

                Pidge's pupils dilated, her heart beating so hard in her chest she thought it may explode, millions of butterflies fluttering around her stomach. She smiled a genuine, soft, loving smile. "Don't be sorry," she whispered, moving toward him to plant a short kiss on his lips. He took her face in his hands.

                "I love you, Katie..." he murmured as he laid them back down once more into the soft mattress. Pidge snuggled close to his side, feeling one of his arms hook around her waist, pulling her closer. She sighed, relaxing as she closed her eyes. That's when she heard him. His lilting voice gently pierced her ears with his soft, deep Spanish words, digging deep into her chest as she felt her heart beat harder and harder with every rolled R. She couldn't understand most of the words, but she could at least understand _mi amor_ , or _estoy enamorado_... _Te necesito_...

                " _Te amo_ , Lance," she roughly whispered, hearing him stop for just a moment to softly laugh and press a heartfelt kiss to her head. She curled her fingers into his shirt as his intense, melodic voice began again, lulling her off into an incredibly happy and comforting sleep.

* * *

 

                The distress signal sounded off, Allura and Coran quickly heading to the main deck to retrieve it. Coran projected the call up onto the big screen in the back of the room, a light blue woman with ears like a fox and the teeth of a boar appearing in front of them, her piercing yellow eyes in deep panic.

                "Paladins of Voltron!" she gruff, high pitched voice exclaimed over the monitor, a boom startling her from behind, her breathing fast and labored. "W-We need your help! Our base is being attacked by a small Galran fleet, b-but we are outnumbered!! At this rate, our base will be destroyed!"

                "Vremni!!" Pidge called out, barreling onto the main deck, concern washing over her face. "What's going on, where's Matt? Can you send your coordinates?"

                "Matt is currently away on a mission, Pidge, he's fine!" Vremni said, another loud boom sounding behind her. "I have no idea how we got located all the way out here, b-but there's nothing we can do now! Sending coordinates! Please get here as quickly as you ca-" The transmission cut off, the screen going blank.

                "Team, get to your Lions!" called Shiro. The team quickly left for the Lions' hangars, changing into their paladin gear before boarding. "This is an incredibly important mission. It is imperative that we all stay focused if we are to keep this rebel base intact and more importantly, save the rebels currently in that base."

                Coran set a course for the coordinates sent by Vremni, everyone quickly traveling through the wormhole. They weren't expecting such a battle going on, even for a small rebel base such as this, quite a few of the rebel forces already fighting for their lives. Allura used her Lion to encase parts of smaller Galra ships, Hunk using his cannon to blast those pieces to smithereens, almost completely incapacitating those ships.

                Pidge was firing her laser, encompassing an enemy ship in vines when she received a fuzzy but operational transmission, a disheveled red faced rebel with silver scratches on his face and orange eyes appearing before her.

                "Mukdack, what is your status?" Pidge asked frantically, hoping that the rebels were going to get out of this okay. But the look on his face said otherwise. His thick accented voice was panicked, but otherwise understandable.

                "W-W-We are fine for now, Pidgeon," he said, her name coming out as _pidge-ee-in_ , " but we may not be for long. Our shields are down, and our only engineers are currently incapacitated!"

                Pidge nodded. "Okay, listen to me, Mukdack," she said quickly, "I'm coming to help, I need you to get the rest of the rebels on base to your pods and get out of there for now. You hear me?"

                "Loud and clear, Pidgeon!! Please stay alert!" And with that, the transmission ended. Pidge switched her comm.

                "Allura, Lance!" Pidge called, the two sounding off immediately. "I need you two to cover me until I can get into the base. If I can fix the shielding system, we may be able to hold the Galra off and keep this base from being destroyed.

                "All right!"

                "You got it!!" she heard the two of them say simultaneously.

                She guided Green quickly down toward the base, Lance's face suddenly appearing on her monitor. He smiled a fierce smile, but one that had a look of underlying concern and worry. "You be careful, Katie," he said gently. "You got that?"

                "Heh, you got it, Sharpshooter," she mused, giving him a cute wink.

                Lance snickered, smugly licking between his lips. "Hey, you come back safely, I'll show you why they call me Loverboy-"

                " ** _LANCE!_** " Hunk appeared on the screen, his face blanching, Lance nearly rolling with laughter and Pidge giggling with her hand up to her mouth, a soft blush covering her face.

                "Guys, can you _please_ focus?" Shiro suddenly growled, Pidge swearing she could him muttering "nasty freakin' teenagers" under his breath.

                Pidge got serious, landing Green in the hangar, stepping out quickly, periodically looking down at the map projecting from her arm communicator and heading toward the base's circuit breakers on the middle floor. She slid into the tight space, immediately touching her fingers to the screens, quickly finding the shields page and desperately trying to work her technological magic. The further she went into the process of fixing the shielding system, the more she realized something was incredibly wrong. The shielding system was offline, not only that, the coding for the system was also completely off. _Could it have been a weird malfunction?_ Pidge thought to herself. Nevertheless, despite the anxious feeling in her chest, she pressed on, recoding the system as quickly as she could. Just one last code and-

                Pidge's heart sank. Her skin crawled. Her face grew pale, her eyes growing wide. She shakily brought her arm up, her fingers trembling as she pressed the buttons on her communicator.

                "M-M-M-Mukdack...." she murmured, her teeth chattering. "H-Has everyone b-been evacuated?"

                "Yes, Ma'am, Pidgeon!!" Mukdack quickly replied. "Is everything okay? Pidgeon?"

                Pidge sank to her knees, her chest so heavy, her stomach so nauseous she thought she may vomit. She had only just realized then that her hearing was muffled when she suddenly heard a loud voice in her ear.

                " ** _PIDGE!_** " a loud voice rang frantically.

                "Y... Yes...?" she murmured.

                "What is going on??!" Lance shouted. Pidge stared back in front of her, her shoulders trembling, her fingers feeling cold.

                A countdown. The shielding system had been sabotaged. The rebels must have been infiltrated or had a traitor or something, Pidge didn't know. All she knew is that the enemy would have known Voltron would show up to a distress signal, and that one of them would go in to help if they took out the remaining engineers of the base.

                Pidge hadn't even heard herself explaining the situation to Lance, but she suddenly heard him screaming at her to get out of there. Pidge blinked, looking back at the clock. Roughly two doboshes. Pidge willed her legs to move beneath her. She ran. And she ran and ran, but only one thought pierced her mind with every long stride her short legs could carry her.

                _I'll never make it._

                "L-L-Lance..." she said breathlessly, still running as fast as she could despite the feeling of dread spreading throughout her body. "Lance, I-I-"

                "Pidge, no. Just get out of there, Pidge, _get out of there_ ," she heard his frantic voice tremble.

                "Lance!" Pidge cried, tears streaming down her face. "I-I-I love you so much."

                "No.. No, Katie, don't say that, _don't-!_ "

                With every stride she took, she could see her life flashing before her eyes, her small hands holding her dad's finger; playing with her dog; her mom's peanut butter cookies; sitting next to Matt reading a book; her time at the Galaxy Garrison; laughing with Keith and Hunk; hugging Allura; the first time her and Lance kissed; telling him she loved him. Pidge bit her trembling lip, closing her eyes.

                "Katie!! **_Katie!_** Answer m-" Lance screamed, tears pouring down his face as he raced his Lion toward the rebel base, orange, red and yellow flashing as the base exploded before his very eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't kill me, friends!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I stayed up super late to finish this... please enjoy!!!

                Lance's blood burned cold. His heart beat in his ears. His chest heaved, his gut ached, his head swimming in turmoil. He couldn't have seen that. It couldn't have happened. It couldn't have.

                But it did. The entire rebel base was destroyed, blasted to near smithereens. And Pidge... _Katie_... she was...

                His eyes went dark. His chest hurt so much. The last words he heard from her kept ringing forever in his ears. She sounded so scared, so terrified. And just hearing those words rip through his soul.

                _Lance... I-I-I love you so much..._

                His whole world was collapsing. All he could see was her face, her eyes, her freckles, her smile. He could hear her laugh, her sweet voice, her voice saying his name. He gritted his teeth, his face growing hot as more tears began streaming down his face.

                " ** _LANCE!!_** " he gasped at Hunk's voice booming in his ear, yanking him back to reality. "Lance, are you there? Please answer me!"

                "H-Hunk..." Lance whimpered, his chin crinkling as more tears fell from his blue eyes. "Pi-Pidge... she-"

                "Lance," Allura pleaded, yet he could the tremble in her lilting voice. "I need to you breathe, and concentrate. Please, Lance, please stay calm."

                Lance scrunched his eyebrows, squeezing the handles of his Lion. "How... can you ask me to stay _calm_ , Allura?" he scoffed. How could they not be more concerned? Everything he saw before him, any future he had imagined with Pidge, had suddenly been ripped from his embrace. He had seen so much. Wanted so much. Even in the few short months they had been officially dating, Lance had been thinking about everything, even further down the road. Even after Voltron. After their lives were finally normal. Having a home. Having a life. Spending their most precious time together. He could see her, walking in front of him, walking in the grass, her summer dress swaying in the breeze. He could see her sparkling amber eyes, even more vibrantly reflecting the orange sky of the evening, holding her hand out to him. But that was all over now.

                In all the chaos, the rest of the paladins were just floating around. The Galra, having finished their mission, had suddenly vanished, leaving a terrible calmness left in the wake of their rampage. And all Lance could do was stare off. The tear trails on his face were dry. His eyes were tired. So tired, he thought he had seen a glimpse of her in front of his eyes. _Wait... that was_...

                _Green_.

                Lance's eyes got wide. He could see the Green Lion, its particle barrier flickering before it finally went out, revealing just below its paw-

                " ** _PIDGE._** " Lance screamed, shifting his Lion forward, hurling himself toward Green. He could see her. _He could see her_! She was floating in the area around the shut down Green Lion, but she was there. He huffed out heavy breaths, his hands trembling on his handles as he willed himself to go faster.

                "You see her?!" Hunk exclaimed.

                "Lance, where? Where is she?" he heard Allura shout frantically. Lance could hear his team, but he wasn't listening. He could hear his blood rushing to his head, his heart pounding in his chest, his stomach twisting in knots the closer he got to her.

                "Red, open your mouth, get her in here!" Lance demanded, quickly standing from his chair and sprinting from the cock pit. _Pidge... Pidge!_ He burst through the door.

                And there she was, lying on the floor in front of Red's closed mouth. He wasted no time, skidding on the floor to her side. Her armor was severely damaged, scorches and cracks peppering her chest, her arms, her legs. He panted, carefully pulling off her helmet, dropping it to the side as he leaned down, his ear close to her nose and mouth.

                "S-S-S-She's not breathing," he wheezed, his eyes quickly scanning over her, his brain whirring like an overworked computer as he tried to figure out what to do.

                "Lance, what is Pidge's status?" Shiro's voice was the last thing he heard in his ear before he ripped his helmet off and dropping it next to his knees. "Lance?? **_LANCE?!"_**

                Lance's labored breathing rang throughout the silent room, gasping as he suddenly knew what to do, scrunching his eyebrows anxiously, ripping the armor from Pidge's chest. Despite his heavy breathing, he laid her flat, keeping his elbows straight, he began compressing her chest.

                "Come on, Pidge," he said to himself, feeling hot tears prick at his eyes as he continued the compressions. "You're strong, Pidge, come back. Come back. Come back to me. _Please_."

                He gently lifted her chin, pinching her nose as he breathed into her once, twice, lifting back up and compressing her chest once more as tears fell from his cheeks.

                "Breathe, Katie, breathe! Please, please, Katie... please," he whimpered, but not once relenting. _You gotta make it through. You have to. You're my everything. You have to see your brother again. We still need to find your dad. You need to hug Bae Bae again, Pidge, please._

                Pidge gasped, her eyes ripping open, a blood curdling scream tearing through her throat, sweat pearling at her forehead, curling into her side, her arms holding her stomach. Lance's face went pale, his lip quivering as he watched her thrash from side to side, listening to her rough, painful whimpers, tears streaming down the side of her face.

                "Katie, Katie!" Lance sobbed, his eyebrows scrunching up as he desperately tried to look in her face. "I-I'm right here, I'm right here!"

                Pidge's lips shook, gritting her teeth as she grasped Lance's hand frantically, her chest heaving heavy breaths in and out as she coughed, crimson blood ejecting from her mouth. Her eyes gazed so achingly hard into his, squeezing his hand with all her might, breathing intensely before her eyes rolled up, Pidge falling back onto the floor.

                "Katie!! _Katie!!"_ Lance cried, cradling her face in his hands. He felt a hand on his shoulder, jumping in fright as he looked to his side, Hunk right next to him as Allura ran in behind him, pulling a stretcher behind her with Shiro on her tail. They'd made it back to the castle? When had they made it back to the castle?

                "It's alright, Lance," Hunk breathed shakily, "she's just passed out, s-she's still breathing." Trying to focus, Lance and Hunk as quickly and gently as they could, pulled Pidge onto the stretcher, pushing her out of Red and into the castle. His heart beat so hard in his ears, Lance feeling as though he was going to be sick.

                "Allura, can you tell us anything?" Lance pleaded, his voice shaky as he looked over at his anxious friend. She set a trembling hand at Pidge's hot forehead, knitting her eyebrows and concentrating as much as she could.

                "H-Her armor and the Green Lion surely saved her life..." Allura admitted. "If not for her being so close to Green when the explosion happened, she would absolutely have perished. B-But it seems the initial explosion sent her careening into Green's leg. S-She has several broke rips, a broken leg, a broken arm, all in several spots, most likely a severe concussion and massive internal bleeding."

                "We need to get her to the healing pod," Lance exclaimed as they entered the infirmary. Shiro pushed her toward a pod as Coran clicked a few buttons to open it up, Hunk peeling off the rest of her armor.

                "Lance..." Allura murmured, grasping her hand tightly to his arm. Lance stared back at her, his eyebrows knitting together. "Lance, the healing pods are advanced, but.... they are not miracle workers."

                Lance yanked his arm away, a scowl appearing on his face. "What do you mean? The pod saved my life when this happened to me."

                "But, Lance..." Allura whispered, looking down at her feet. "This is incredibly severe... Pidge may not come out of this the same," she scrunched her eyebrows together, still not looking him in the eye, her next words coming out in a rough whisper.  "Or at all..."

                Lance looked away, his hands balling into fists. He peered up at the rest of the team as they finished sealing the unconscious Pidge into the healing pod. Her face finally softened, a calmness waving over her as she floated silently in the pod, watching Hunk sink down to his knees, Coran holding his shoulder.

                He looked at this small girl, this small, stunning, befreckled, captivating intelligent girl. This girl that he was completely enamored with. Head over heels. Totally and irrevocably in love with. His heart beat, so achingly sad as he looked at her small, injured frame floating alone in that pod. He ached to touch her, to feel her skin against his. He mourned for her sweet gaze. He desperately craved for her embrace. Her warmth, her smile, her kiss. His chest heaved, his eyes swelling with tears as he turned back to Allura.

                "She has to, Allura" he sobbed, Allura pulling him into her arms, his hands holding her tight, shoving his face into her shoulder. " _She has to_."

* * *

 

_"Katie?" Lance said, grasping her shoulder with a light squeeze. "You ready to go?"_

_Pidge breathed out a shaky breath, hugging her binder to her chest. She looked up into his face, her eyebrows knitting together. "What if I mess up? What if I get up there and drop all my note cards? Or the professors don't like what I have to say?"_

_Lance sighed, shaking slightly with mirth as he side smiled. "One: you know that speech, and probably that whole binder, so well that you can do it in your sleep. Which you have, by the way," he added, nudging her with his elbow, a small giggle escaping Pidge at the action. "Two: I've known you long enough, got to know you and your intellect, to know that you could present anything to that board staff and they would immediately want to fund it, regardless of what it was."_

_Pidge smiled, rubbing his blue clad bicep under her fingers. "Even if it was for a jelly bean fueled bread slicer?"_

_"If it could simultaneously make toast, it'd be the winner of the conference for sure," Lance laughed, hugging her briefly to his side. "By the way, did you remember to eat breakfast?"_

_"Ahh, no," Pidge threw her head back, groaning, pulling her sweater tighter around her shoulders. "I knew I forgot something."_

_"It's alright, I packed a peanut butter sandwich, it's sitting in the car," Lance said, fixing the collar of his blue button up and sticking his wallet in his back pocket._

_"Smooth peanut butter?" Pidge asked, peering at Lance from the corner of her eye as she carefully stuffed her binder into her messenger bag._

_"Who do you think I am?" Lance replied, narrowing his eyes jokingly at her, setting his hands heavy on his hips in fake attitude. Pidge grinned, a small laugh escaping her throat as she fixed her glasses on her face._

_"I don't think I've ever bought chunky peanut butter," Lance said._

_"Why would you?" Pidge said matter-of-factly._

_"Because we are intelligent human beings, Pidge."_

_The two walked out of their room, Lance casually asking her if she let the dog back inside before they got ready to leave, Pidge replying as she locked the back door. She stood there with her hand on the door handle, staring down at the gold paint, slowly rubbing her thumb over the cool metal, lost in thought. She sighed, a nervous knot forming in her stomach. Pidge knew she had a high chance of being chosen for this grant, she had worked for months just writing up her research the best she could. Wormhole technology was still extremely foreign to Earth, especially in their current circumstances having to attempt wormhole recreation from scratch. She didn't think she'd gotten anywhere without the help of Allura, however. She had truly been the tethering might to Pidge even being able to research the topic in the first place. In her anxious reverie, she felt Lance's hand on her shoulder, looking up and turning around, his body close to hers, his face peering down into her amber eyes._

_"You're going to be great, Pidge," he said with a genuine smile, holding her face in his hand, his thumb rubbing gently under her eye. She felt his ring against her neck, reveling in the coolness of the Altean metal on her skin. She grasped his wrists in her hands, standing on her tip toes to press a sweet kiss to his lips. She separated from him only a moment later, yet their faces remained so incredibly close. His eyes shaded, his pupils dilating as his eyebrows knitted down, a smoldering expression appearing on his face._

_Pidge inhaled a short breath at his expression, her nervous knots disappearing only to be replaced with intense flutterings They both brought their lips together once more, Pidge wrapping her arms around Lance's neck as their mouths moved against one another. Pidge moaned into his mouth when his strong hand found her thigh under her dress, running his hand to the back of her leg. The other soon made it to her other thigh, Pidge gasping as he lifted her, pinning her against the cool glass of the door, Pidge hooking her legs around his waist. She moaned, feeling his hand squeeze her bottom, Pidge biting her lip as he peppered kisses to her jaw down to her neck._

_"Lannnnce," she gasped, feeling his body shake with mirth at her reaction. "We... c-can't have a repeat.. of last time."_

_"Ah," he murmured, grinding against her, grinning smugly, eliciting a drawn out groan from her throat. "Just be late; they worship the ground you walk on..." He could feel her heart beating so quickly against his chest, pleasant knots turning up in his stomach._

_"I-It's still.... unprofe-ESH-ssional," she panted. Her hands met the back of his neck, her fingers threading through his chocolate brown locks and gently squeezing. She felt him shiver, a groan exiting it his throat, a smug smile playing about her lips._

_"Ooh ho ho ho," Lance smirked, moving his head to look back into her  face, his aqua blue eyes shimmering with desire. "You know I like that, and now you're gonna get it."_

_"What?" she said, feigning ignorance, moving her fingers about the back of his head. "I know nothing, nothING!"_

_Lance held her against him, Pidge laughing as he moved her quickly from the door. He turned them around, laying her flat on the floor, his body fitting like a puzzle piece between her legs, his arms hooked under her thighs. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him back down to her inviting lips. She truly had a perfect life, she idly thought as she felt him smile against her lips. She loved living in their wonderful little house, with their adorable little dog, sleeping in their warm, comfortable bed. She loved everything about her life._

_She groaned as she felt him grind once more against her, cradling his head in her hands as she pulled his ear toward her lips. "Lance..." she murmured._

_"Hmm?" he lazily replied as he kissed a place on her neck. He loudly yelped when he felt her fingers pull his ear, quickly sitting up as an overdramatic pained looked appeared on his face._

_"We gotta go, Loverboy, off. Off off off!!" she cried, waving her hands toward him, him sighing and straightening up, reaching down and pulling her off the floor._

_"Jerk," she heard him murmur. She rolled her eyes, quickly smoothing out her green dress and pulling her sweater back up over her shoulder._

_"I do love hearing your reactions, though" he said smugly, one eyebrow perking up._

_She gently smacked his shoulder. "Only because you're incredibly good at kissing."_

_"I was edging more towards-" she elbowed him in the stomach with an half laughed oof coming from his mouth._

_Pidge grabbed her messenger bag from the table, throwing the strap over her head. "We better hurry, Hunk and Coran are already gonna be there."_

_"Oh yeah, and we're still going out to dinner after the conference with everyone," he said with a smile. "Can't wait to get some garlic knots and cinnamon bread."_

_Pidge nodded, beginning to walk toward the door with him. Pidge stopped short as a thought crossed her mind, stopping as she grasped the shirt at his waist. He stopped walking, peering  inquisitively down at her._

_Pidge's face dusted a deep red, looking anywhere but his face. "You know... w-when we get home tonight... could we....?" she murmured, peering up at him through her light eyelashes._

_Lance's heart skipped a beat, feeling his face heat up as he gazed into her amber eyes. Mirth resounded from his chest, biting his lip as he caressed her freckled face. "Y-Yeah... of course..." he whispered, a wonderfully lovely expression appearing on her red face._

_He smiled, letting her wrap her arm around his, Pidge hugging his bicep as the two walked out the door, pleasant conversation falling between the two about the conference, what they'd talk about at dinner with their friends, a blissful feeling softly emanating between the two. The scene faded, rippling, almost as if it were submerged in a pool of water, their voices muffling, growing fainter and fainter, before finally the view turning black._

                Pidge stirred, cracking her eyes open slightly, immediately squeezing them closed as a bright light nearly blinded her. She felt as if she were floating, her ears muffled to any of the sounds around her. She thought she heard... beeping? While the feeling was not overall unpleasant, Pidge felt as if something were off. She willed her eyes open, cracking them slowly to adjust to the light, a bright room slowly materializing before her.

                She was in.... the med bay? What was she doing in there? Everything was a giant blur at the moment. She felt as though she had slept for a long time, but had the feeling of sleeping so long that it felt as though she hadn't gotten any sleep. As she finally gained her bearings, she realized she was in a healing pod. Healing pod? What was she doing in a healing pod?

                At that moment the pod opened, slowly setting Pidge down on her feet, carefully stepping out, feeling the cold floor on her bare feet. She groaned, holding her stomach in her hand, gripping the door to the healing pod hard in her hand. She felt horrible, slightly nauseous, still trying her hardest to remember why she felt that way. It was still slowly coming back to her, but only at snail pace.

                She took a few cautionary steps, breathing slowly through her nose and out through her mouth, trying to calm the sick feeling in her stomach, her face feeling unpleasantly cold. She stepped to the side, looking down when she realized there was a person on the floor, leaning up against the pod.

                Lance.

                Pidge's  heart sank looking at Lance, asleep with his arms crossed tight around him, his eyebrows knitted together, blue bags visible under his eyes. It ripped through her chest. She felt horrible that she could still only remember a few details on what happened. She remembered that the base's shielding systems were severely sabotaged. She remembered running. The last words she remembered... After she was sent careening into Green, everything else was a complete blank.

                "Lance..." she murmured. He stirred, as if he was only barely asleep, tiredly opening his puffy eyes, slowly looking up to see Pidge peering down at him. She knitted her eyebrows, a small sad smile appearing on her face as she gazed into his exhausted eyes. He exhaled, resting his head on the back of the pod, looking wistfully off to the side as his face contorted into a grimace. His chin wrinkled, pressing the heels of his palms to his eyes, his back arching.

                He let out a hard breath. "Quiznak, I'm seeing things again," he whispered to himself. Pidge's heart dropped into her stomach. Lance thought he was seeing things? _Wait... again?_ What could he have meant by that? He looked so tired, so fatigued, like he'd aged two years in only a day. Seeing him look so forlorn, so incredibly despondent, it hurt her heart so much. She felt a catch in her throat, gently cradling his face in her hands.

                He jumped back, a loud gasp coming from his mouth, ripping his eyes open, his eyebrows scrunching together. He breathed panicked breaths, his lip quivering as he stared into her amber eyes.

                "Pidge...?" he whispered.  He shuddered as Pidge moved closer, sitting on her shins, rubbing her thumbs under his blue tinged eyes. He nearly started hyperventilating, sitting up to grasp her shoulders in his shaking hands.

                "You could have at least slept in a bed, silly," Pidge said softly, a side smile perking up on her lips. His face contorted, scrunching his eyebrows, tears welling up in his eyes. He moved forward, shifting to his knees and wrapping his arms right around her, burying his face in the crook of her neck. She felt him sob against her, her eyebrows knitting up in desperation. She pushed her face into his shoulder, curling her fingers into his jacket.

                "Pidge... Pidge..." she heard him whisper against her. " _Katie_ ," she felt her heart ache when he said her name. "I thought I'd lost you..."

                She was about to say something back to him, something reassuring, something to quell his anxiety; but at that moment he squeezed her a little too tightly, a labored wheeze forcing its way out of her chest. Lance jumped back, his hands still on her shoulder, his face grimacing in worry as he watched her cough and wheeze, struggling to find decent breaths. Lance talked her through it, telling to her breathe slowly, in and out, to take her time. Pidge realized at that moment that her whole body ached, feeling as though she were plagued by bruises. Her left arm hurt, her left leg all the way up to her hip felt like it was on fire. It hurt her chest just to carefully breathe in and out.

                "E-Everything hurts, Lance," Pidge confessed. She grasped at the lapel of his jacket, Lance caressing the back of her head. She craved his touch. She reveled in the way he touched her hair, the motion so filled with affection that her stomach twisted in knots. _I know I got hurt, and I love his touch so much, but.... why do I crave it so? What is so different from yesterday?_

                " ** _Pidge!!_** " she suddenly heard the voice of Allura, seeing her sprinting through the doorway, sliding on her knees and grasping the back of her head near Lance's hand. The look on Allura's face nearly tore Pidge in half. Her pink blue eyes were swimming in tears, Allura's face so tired looking that she couldn't hold the tears in. After Allura's frantic shout, the rest of her friends came barreling in, everyone desperate to touch her or look at her.

                "How do you feel, are you okay?" she heard Hunk say, noticing him wearing an apron covered in intergalactic ingredients. "How's your stomach? Your arms? Can you count to ten? What is the function of the Fourier Transform?"

                "How's your head? Is your ticker still ticking??" asked Coran. "Don't know if humans have a nikwiki, but hopefully yours is functioning okay!"

                A small smile played across Pidge's lips, happy to know that her friends care so deeply for her. But it hurt her heart so much to know that they were so desperately worried about her.

                "Thank you so much for worrying about me, you guys," Pidge murmured, grasping at Allura's hand still holding the back of her head. "I know it was a close call, but the blast sent me into Green, I think that's what saved me. And you got me to the healing pod fast enough."

                Allura slowly peered back at Shiro, whose arms were crossed, looking intently down at his feet. There was a stillness in the room all of a sudden, as if the rest of the team stopped breathing. Pidge noticed of course, looking around at all of her uncomfortable friends.

                "What...? What's wrong? I told you guys, I'm fine. I-I just hurt really bad is all," Pidge said with a dry laugh. "I know I was hurt pretty bad, and I know I can't remember too much but.. I'm fine!"

                Allura moved her hand down to the spot between her shoulder and her neck, giving it a gentle squeeze. She knitted her silvery white eyebrows, an overflowing expression of concern passing over her face.

                "Pidge..." Allura spoke as softly as she could, her eyes awash in grief. "You died."

                Pidge's eyes got big, her heart dropped straight into her abdomen. "W-W-What do you mean I... I-I died?"

                "You died..." Allura nervously gulped, a tremble in her melodic voice, "twice, Pidge. W-We lost you... twice."

                Pidge's lip quivered, covering her mouth with her shivering hand. "I-I d-died... _twice?_ " she whispered through her fingers, feeling hot tears pierce her eyes. She scrunched her eyes shut, her eyebrows knitting together. How could I have died.... twice...? ".... How?" Pidge asked after she finally calmed her breathing.

                Allura looked down, trying to find words that wouldn't completely traumatize her. "You had a severe concussion, Pidge. Your arm and your leg were shattered, and you had several broken ribs and massive internal bleeding. After the explosion, we were so stunned. We barely even realized what had just happened. It had felt like forever, but Lance found you after a minute or so, but... You weren't breathing. At all. He managed to revive you using what he calls see-pee-arr, and you were in such pain that you passed out.

                Pidge sat back on her shins, holding her hands in her lap. "I-I.... I don't remember any of it..."

                "We got you to the pod as quickly as we could, but..." Allura continued, trying her best to quell her stammering voice, Hunk sitting cross-legged next to Allura, gently rubbing her shoulder, "you flat lined, even in the pod."

                Pidge shuddered, looking down, but peering over to the side at Lance. He was staring straight at her, almost as if he weren't hearing Allura explain it all to her. He had the most tired expression she had ever seen plastered all over his face. He was exhausted. Broken. It tore her apart. She realized then she hadn't been listening to Allura, suddenly hearing something that made her whip her head back up.

                "I've been in a coma for two months??" Pidge exclaimed. She couldn't believe her ears. The reason they all looked so exhausted, so desperate to see her and feel her... She had been gone for two whole months.

                Before she could articulate anything else, her stomach gurgled so loud that it rang throughout the entire chamber. For the first time since she woke, she saw her friends smile.

                "Now that's a good sign," Hunk said, a cheerful tone finally finding its way to his voice. "Let's get some food goo in you."

                Pidge let out a shaky breath, carefully trying to stand up as Lance gently took her by the arm, pulling her to her feet, Pidge feeling him shift behind her as his arms made their way under hers and grasping her hands. He moved her forward, letting Pidge set the pace as they slowly walked together to the kitchen.

* * *

 

                The rest of the evening had gone by so quickly. The food goo, albeit not the best first dinner to have after two months in a solitary pod, really did make the nauseous feeling in her stomach go away. She was finally able to see her brother, who had been incredibly scared up til then since he had been so far away from her when it happened. Hunk had tried his best to recreate baked ziti for her for when she would hopefully come out of her coma. He hadn't perfected it yet, but since Pidge was finally awake, he decided to make it his resolve to make it for her soon. The best Keith could do was communicate through transmissions as many times as he was able, but Pidge understood that even in something as traumatic as his friend nearly dying, he couldn't leave the Blade of Marmora. Even Keith nearly started crying when he saw her, awake and for the most part well, on the other side of the transmission.

                But then the night finally came. Pidge showered, reveling in the coolness of the water, loving the way it soothed her still aching body. She still hurt, incredibly, horribly even. She figured that the healing pod wasn't a complete miracle worker. Two months in an advanced healing chamber couldn't even completely heal her. She sighed, turning off the water, carefully drying her sore limbs. She padded quietly to her room after she slowly pulled her pajamas on. The door whooshed open, Pidge peering over to see Lance sitting cross-legged on the bed. The moment she walked in, he quickly stood up, staring at her in the dim light of the room.

                His ocean blue eyes were so deep, his eyebrows were knitted up in conflicted emotion, his lips were parted as if he were trying to say something but nothing was coming out. Pidge grasped her shirt over her stomach, the nauseous feeling coming back again, but for different reasons. Lance quietly stepped toward her, gently threading his fingers with hers, softly pulling her toward his chest, feeling his nose press onto the top of her head.

                Not only had Lance witnessed her die once, he had revived her, only to watch her die again. Watch her every single day in that pod, never knowing when or if she would ever come out. She couldn't blame herself for what happened, and she knew he'd never blame her for something going awry during a mission. But she never wanted to make the person who loved her most in this world feel like that ever again. And she didn't know how she could have possibly loved him more than before, but... that dream she had in the pod had felt so incredibly real. The smells, the sounds, the feeling of his lips, the love in her heart for their house and their dog, for their bed, for the rings around their fingers. It made her heart skip a beat just thinking about it.

                "I-I wanna lay down..." Pidge whispered. She peered up at Lance, expecting just to gaze into the eyes she loved so much, but she found herself reaching up to press her lips to his. He laid his hands on her upper arms as gently as he could. She could feel his lips slightly quivering against hers as he pressed further against them. They slowly, achingly pulled away, their lips only a hair's breadth away, feeling their noses nudge against each other.

                "I never thought I'd get to do that again..." he murmured. She wrapped her arm under his shoulder, pulling him in once again. They stood there, in each other's arms, kissing fervently, Pidge not knowing if her face was wet because of his tears or her own. They finally fell back onto the bed, Pidge laying atop Lance, her body screaming in anguish, but she didn't care. She needed to feel him, his arms around her, his lips on her, his heart beating against her. She shuddered when his lips touched her neck, her mind still idly returning to the dream she had in the pod. She loved where she was... she loved being here, as a paladin of Voltron, saving the universe little by little, but... she would be lying if she didn't admit that she was a little disappointed. She desperately wanted that dream to be real, or... at least for it to someday be real.

                Pidge and Lance finally relaxed against one another, his arms wrapped as gently but firmly as he could around her, not wanting to hurt her but still wanting to keep her as close as possible. Her hand rested over his heart, feeling it raise up and down with every beat.

                "I want to sleep so bad," she heard him murmur. She opened her eyes, adjusting herself to look into his face, a concerned expression passing over her. He looked away from her, suddenly ashamed of himself. "I-I... haven't been able to sleep since the accident. Only very briefly, and... I'd always startle myself awake...." he squeezed his lips together. "I was even seeing hallucinations of you..."

                "I-I'm..." she said softly. "I'm so sorry, Lance."

                He gave her a sad smile, caressing her chin with his thumb and finger. "I love you so much, Katie..." he whispered, pulling her down into his embrace.

                She smiled. "I love you, too, Lance."

                He was silent for a moment. She almost thought he was asleep when he shifted his arm, rubbing up her spine. "Your name is Katrina, huh?"

                She peered up in awe at him. "H-How did...?"

                Lance smiled sheepishly, his eyes gaining a little bit of their light back despite them still looking so desperately exhausted. "The healing pods are incredibly intuitive. They show your vitals, brain scans, x-rays... they even know the name of the person hooked into it. Yours said "Katrina Alessandra Holt".

                Hearing him say her full name took her aback a bit. But it also made her heart soar. She curled her fingers into his soft shirt, Lance noticing the action immediately, a slightly smug smile appearing on his face. As much as she wanted to smack the smug look from his face, she couldn't help but feel so happy that he was feeling like himself again. She never wanted him to look or feel that way ever again.

                She laid her head back down, feeling his arms wrap tighter around her body. But his touch didn't hurt. In fact, she craved it. His hand went under her shirt, shuddering as his warm fingers touched her bare skin. She sighed, feeling him relax under her as he finally drifted to sleep. Pidge didn't know how she felt tired after two months sleeping in the healing pod, but exhaustion overcame her, cradling her head into the crook of his neck, letting herself drift off, blissful in his warm, comforting embrace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pleeease don't murder me, guys!

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: That's it for now! As I am publishing this, it is 4:11 AM, but I really feel like I'll be updating this soon.  
> And hey! If you liked this fic, drop a follow, a kudos, a review. If you wanna head over to my FanFiction.net, I'm PixiesStoleMyApples over there, and same on my Tumblr as well.  
> Thank you so much for reading! You guys are awesome~~


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